UDFA/ GT Beer Football Final Eagles United land first GT Beer c/ship with 2-1 o/t win over arch rivals Net Rockers Drakes is MVP as Winners Connection beat Botofago for 3rd place

Jan 03, 2019 Sports

It was a fitting finale and one that confirmed Eagles United of Christianburg as the top Linden club as they turned back Net Rockers by a 2-1 score line to add the Upper Demerara Football

New GT Beer football champions Eagles United in celebration mode.

Association’s GT Beer football championship to their UDFA league title for 2018 as a huge crowd witnessed the final of the year ending championship New Year’s night at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground.
Urged on by a strong Christianburg following Eagles United landed their first year end championship since copping the Kashif and Shanghai title in 1991/92 as their eventual final’s Most Valuable Player Colwyn Drakes carted off the motorcycle prize after again piloting them to their first GT Beer crown in six tries.
It gave them $1.2M as opposed to the $600,000 won by Net Rockers and laid to rest which was the best club in the region.
Both had played unbeaten in the GTT League championship and drew their game against each other. This then set the stage for a deciding final’s game and Eagles prevailed in overtime.
They were led by defender Benny Neblette and with the decision taken to have the experienced mid field player Clive DeNobrega appear on the pitch, despite some concerns about an injury, Eagles United showed their eagerness to win this game. Both sides battled valiantly and were unable to score in regulation play.
It took extra time after a 0-0 deadlock to separate the two clubs and Drakes started the process when he was there to pounce on a chance as Net Rockers defenders were caught napping and Drakes latched on to slap home a crisp drive for a 1-0 advantage in the 103rd minute. Then Drakes in tandem with the busy Deon Charter put the Christianburg unit up 2-0 as he slipped a pass to Charter who finished the play in the 116thminute.

Scorers for Eagles United Deon Charter (left) and Colwyn ‘Buck’ Drakes.

And as time seemed to be against them Net Rockers fought back and were rewarded two minutes later. Deshawn Joseph would cannon a free kick outside the box and it cut the lead 2-1 but time would not allow them a chance to level and when the final whistle came Eagles United were holding the championship trophy donated by Trophy Stall.
Captain Benny Neblette received it from Secretary of the UDFA Mrs. Dawn Barker, while the brand new motorcycle was taken by Drakes.
In the third place playoff game for $400,000, Haynes and Lewis Winners Connection won 3-2 against the defending champions Botofago in overtime. The scores were level after regulation play with Shaquille France and Stanford Bovell scoring for the Winners Connection in the 4th and 65thminutes of play which the Haynes brothers Shane and Jamal netted in the 47th and 54th minutes of play respectively. Botofago had to settle for the fourth place prize of $200,000.
The winning goal would then be scored by Cedric Hunte in the 106th minute of play and the final score was 3-2 for Winners Connection.
The presentation will be done by the main sponsors Banks DIH Limited at a date to be announced according to the UDFA.