Hikers ‘A’ stop Old Fort ‘A’

Oct 01, 2008 Sports

– GCC impressiveEverest Hikers ‘A’ through goals from Alex Gouveia and Shane Samuels in the 22nd and 30th minutes respectively managed to check the surge of the raging Old Fort ‘A’ team as play in the Banks DIH Hockey Tournament continued last Monday night at the Thirst Park ground.

It was a simple case of some teams needing to take the responsibility of reigning in the flowing run of the Old Fort ‘A’ unit that have shown some signs of a strong resurgence, winning two titles so far this season.

With both teams missing their first choice goalkeepers, Hikers were the ones to take full advantage of the absence of national Tony Cole due to a finger injury and took the lead through Gouveia, who netted during a scrimmage.

Old Fort never looked in sync and paid the price shortly after when Samuels collected a pass from Jerazeno Bell and lashed a powerful shot past stand-in Compton Dolphin, who never had a sniff of a chance.

However, the performance of the evening came from GCC men who scored an impressive 3-0 win over Shakatan that comprised players from the national Under-21 squad currently preparing for the Junior Pan American Tournament in Trinidad and Tobago.

Shane Samuels

Alex Gouveia

GCC were off to a good start when a wonderful solo effort from Alan Fernandes that saw him fake and dribble two defenders, before delivering a well placed shot into the back of the goal. That came after 14 minutes of play.

He followed that up with another beautiful effort, outstripping his markers to beat the goalkeeper to his left after thirty-one minutes and then the effervescent Dwayne Scott sealed the issue beyond doubt when he reached onto a perfect pass from Shad Fernandes to net their third in the 37th minute.

In results of the other matches played: Hikers ‘B’ defeated a determined GCC Tigers 2-0 with Randy Hope’s 11th minute strike and Travis McKenzie’s effort in the 35th separating the teams and Degenerates rolled back the years with a hard fought 2-1 triumph over Western Dragons. Rawl Davson in the 10th and Tristan Gomes 12th were the men on target. Adrian Thompson made the lone response for Dragons.

The competition continues tomorrow with GCC Tigers taking on Degenerates; Hikers Ladies tackling their ‘B’ counterparts; Old Fort versus Dragons; Hikers ‘A’ go up against Shakatan and GCC engage Old Fort.
Starting time is 18:00 hrs.