Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 01, 2014 Sports
By Michael Benjamin
When the first whistle sounded for the inaugural Chico/K&S Elite, Next Generation Schools’ Football championships early last month, 24 teams were lined up, each with a realistic chance of winning the top prize. Now, weeks of stiff competition that witnessed several exciting encounters, will come to a delectable climax when the four top teams battle for the top prizes as the championships come to a potentially thrilling climax at the Georgetown Football Club Ground later this evening.
Wismar/Christianburg Secondary will attempt to embellish its reputation as the top Under-18 unit when it lock horns with Ash Academy for the first and second place prizes, while Waramadong Secondary and St George’s Secondary will go head to head in the third place playoff.
Coach of the Ash Academy, Abu Huriarah is very upbeat and assures that his boys will be the new champions when the smoke is cleared. He said that they are still bristling from the 1 nil loss to Wismar/Christianburg Secondary in the Digicel U-18 football competition earlier this year and will be coming with blazing guns to exact revenge.
He will place his confidence in defender, Atlin Brown, who has made his mark with a 5 goal tally in the game against President’s College. As a matter of fact, all of the Ash players enjoyed great moments in that game with Akimo Watts, Lester Cummings and Neil Munroe sparkling in that game.
Huriarah’s opposite number, Delon Peters, has scoffed at those predictions and remains confident that his team will emulate the feat in the Digicel tournament. He said that his team play as a unit and their level of determination have stood them in good stead and segregated them from the riff raff. Indeed, the youngsters from Region 10 had demonstrated grit and determination when they scraped back from a 2-0 deficit to the Waramadong team in the Digicel finals to triumph 3-2.
Meanwhile, Ash Academy furthered strengthened its claim to the top prize with a brilliant display of football that disposed of tournament favourites, Waramadong Secondary 2-1, and seal a place in the finals when the semi-final matches in the Chico/K&S Elite, Next Generation Schools’ Football championships concluded at the Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary, Monday evening last. Contrastingly, Wismar/Christianburg Secondary stayed on course with a 2-1 win over St Georges’ Secondary to set up the face off with Ash Academy tonight.
Waramadong Secondary struck first through a pin point shot when Lyndel Joseph pasted the opposition’s goalie with a free kick just outside the 90 yards box to send his team ahead in the 21st minute. Another spirited raid by Waramadong’s front men less than 5 minutes later threatened to widen the margin but was staunchly defended by the Linden based team followed by a counter attack by Akeemo Watts who skillfully dribbled past Waramadong’s defence to bring the situation back to equilibrium in the 26th minute.
The action continued at a furious pace with both teams enjoying great moments with near misses after enterprising advances. Buoyed by the equalizer, Ash Secondary upped the ante and Brian Thomas dexterously dribbled the ball past the opposition’s defence to send his team into the ascendency 5 minutes after Watts had equalized the situation.
Waramadong’s closest chance to bringing the score on a 2-2 par occurred just before the final whistle when Vice Captain, Myles Albert, operating in the central mid field position, joined forces with Colyer Daniels and Delmar George to surge ahead. They failed to get past the staunch defence of Gary Webster and Akimo Watts and the shrill sound of the final whistle meant that the closest they could come to the top prize would be third, and even then they must first get past the St George’s team in the third place playoff this evening.
Wismar/Christianburg Secondary commenced their journey in a business-like fashion and were amply rewarded when Shane Luckie delivered a thunderous left foot kick that spelled goal from the time the ball left his foot. Indeed, the bullet-like effort whizzed past the St George’s custodian in just the 6th minute of play. Two minutes later, Jermaine Scott emulated the play and the game was once again evened and continued at a furious pace.
The pundits had dismissed the Georgetown team while predicting an easy win for the Lindeners. The former team ignored this prognosis and their application was a joy to behold and kept the game at a 1-1 stalemate at the end of the first half.
Though legs were tired in the second half, the St George’s team refused to wilt and the powerful Linden team were made to work exceedingly hard to reclaim the ascendency. They might have received a morale booster after their goalie executed a brilliant save from just outside the box.
In as much the St George’s custodian was up to the task with several brilliant saves, the humdinger off the boot of Duquan Hercules from the right flank in the 79th minute was virtually impossible to save. Despite desperate raids by St George’s strikers, the final whistle came with no further successes for either team much to the delight of the Linden based unit.
Tonight’s action gets underway with the third place playoff at 18:30hrs followed by the championship game at 20:00hrs.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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