Bakewell Topp XX, Sunburst Camptown close off K&S semi-final card

Dec 28, 2008 Sports

Fight for a place in the final on tonight at Providence Stadium

By Franklin Wilson
Five-time champions and eight-time finalists Bakewell Topp XX topped Santos 2-0 while Sunburst Camptown took care of Fruta Conquerors by the lone goal of their encounter to book the final two semi-final places in the 2008/09 Kashif and Shanghai Football tournament on Friday night at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground.

Telson Mc Kinnon

Playing in soggy conditions, Topp XX rated as the team with the knack for the K&S tournament, turned back the challenge of Santos, who replaced T&T’s K Brans Sports Club who never turned up despite giving the organisers all assurances that they would have been here.
Topp XX, who lost the last final to Alpha United, opted to rest a number of their seasoned stars, opting to expose their youth players and this tactic worked for them.
Santos, were never allowed to settle into any threatening rhythm against the home team which enjoyed good home support.
Their four seasoned players, Collie ‘Hitman’ Hercules, Kayode McKinnon, Carey Harris and Richard Reynolds guided their inexperienced counterparts and were able to get the maximum and eventual victory out of them against their city rivals.
Hercules, who plays with Tobago United as a player/coach and still a part of the Golden Jaguars, Guyana’s flagship team, proved that he is still a keen factor with Topp XX by netting the first goal in just the second minute, an advantage that Santos were never able to recover from.

Collie Hercules

Despite a number of promising runs offensively, Santos were never allowed to settle even as they showed flashes of brilliance during the encounter. Terrence ‘Old Head’ Lewis in midfield for the city side in tandem with Nigel Denny, Laurex and Renault Fraser and Seon McKenzie marshalling the defence, put up a good showing but the forwards came close at best against the Topp XX defence led by goalkeeper Richard Reynolds who did a splendid job between the uprights.
In a romantic flair to the evening’s proceedings, Reynolds, Guyana’s number one custodian proposed to his sweetheart, Shermaine Gill publicly, just before the start of the match and during the game, he was flawless.
The heavy conditions definitely had its say on the quality of the match, the ball not able to move along the turf for any distance.
The home team was better able to master the conditions and sealed the deal two minutes before full time, Hercules’ Tobago club mate Harris, nudging the ball past custodian O’Neal Yearwood, his second goal of the tournament.
The Bakewell boys, who for the umpteenth time, is the lone warriors from the Bauxite Mining Town of Linden will face off against Sunburst Camptown, who defeated Fruta Conquerors in the evening’s opening clash.
The combination of Forwards Nigel ‘Powers’ Codrington and Telson McKinnon did the trick for Camptown eight minutes into the encounter.

Carey Harris

Codrington picked up the ball on the right side deep in the Conquerors half headed into the box before firing a shot to goal, keeper Oswald Cornette was not able to hold cleanly due to the slippery conditions.
Waiting happily to capitalize on the loose ball was McKinnon, to the delight of teammates and supporters.
As the game matured, both teams made changes along the way, Conquerors with a view to drawing level and Camptown, seeking to maintain the advantage.
No more goals materialised and Camptown, who would have won the tournament twice before and made the finals three times, the same as Conquerors, were eying their fourth final but must get past Topp XX this evening at the National Stadium for that to become reality.
Tonight’s feature clash brings together the Guyana Defence Force and Pele who won their respective quarter-final matches on Christmas Night against B K International Western Tigers and Alpha United by similar 3-1 margins.
New champions will be crowned on Thursday evening, New Year’s Night, when the respective winners tonight face off for the one million dollar first prize. A number of attractive individual prizes are also at stake in the tournament, the MVP will ride away with a brand new 125 Jailing motorcycle compliments of R&F Mining.