Conquerors and Alpha roll into Banks Premium Beer Semis

Mar 31, 2009 Sports

Conquerors win 3-1, Alpha 3-0

Dellon Williams (left) and Joel Lloyd

By Franklin Wilson
Fruta Conquerors have been on the upward trend and their demolition of Uprising 3-1 in quarter-final action of the Banks Premium Beer Cup on Sunday evening underlines this fact.
The home team behind a double from little known striker Joel ‘Burnham’ Lloyd and another from the ever dependable Dellon Williams led them to a 3-1 win over the upstarts of the tournament, Uprising.
Sunday’s opening match up saw the Haiti bound Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United brushing aside Georgetown Football Club, 3-0.
The Conquerors / Uprising battle provided good excitement for the fans as the two sides went after each other, the home team enjoying much of the ball possession but Uprising always looked threatening when their main weapon up front in Dexter ‘Dribbler’ Bentick, picked up the ball.
So fierce were the exchanges that the deadlock was only broken 4 minutes to the half time break when the tall and Lloyd broke loose from the Uprising defence to nail his shot past goalkeeper Keith Fraser.
As was the case in the first half, the level of intensity from the first half was transferred to the second and supporters did not have to wait too long to cheer again. But this time it was Uprising’s turn when Bentick received an excellent pass from the hard working Omali Nassy in midfield just into the Conquerors half, worked down the left side before unleashing a fierce shot to the last post, custodian Oswald Cornette did not stand a sniffer of a chance in denying the excellent effort of Bentick in the 46th minute.

Fruta Conquerors Captain, Joylon Harry (3rd left) seeks to control and maintain possession as Uprising’s Omali Nassy to his right challenges. (Franklin Wilson photo)

This goal which brought the sides back on even keel did not go down too well with the home team and to the utmost amazement of not only the players (Uprising) but their supporters; Conquerors restored their advantage on the next run down. The thorn in their defence was again Lloyd.
After the ball was restarted, Lloyd collected and in robust like manner fought off the opposing midfield and defence before slipping the ball past Fraser’s left hand. Many supporters on the side lines were of the view that Fraser could have done better to deny the goal but that is now history.
The exchanges continued to be very energetic but Uprising were never able to hit the back of the nets again but Conquerors did.
Williams’ sealer was well executed, running past the left side defender just inside the box and as Fraser advanced, calmly nudged the ball into the open goal 2 minutes before full time.
It was a solid performance by the young Conquerors side, gradually regaining their confidence as the battle for the title of knock-out kings in the city gets better.
The opening game saw Alpha easing to an easy win over GFC, Elton Browne in the 12th minute, Leon Grumble in the 35th and Dwight Peters two minutes into the second half were the players hitting the network for Alpha.
The final two semi-final spots will be decided tomorrow evening when defending champions Pele collide with the Guyana Defence Force. Both teams won their opening games 8-0 over Beacon and Houston Stars, respectively. But only one can win tomorrow and the winner earns the right for a semi-final clash with Alpha.
The other game will see Sunburst Camptown taking on rivals Santos for a chance to face Conquerors in the other semi.