BK Int. Western Tigers and Alpha to clash in K&S final

Dec 30, 2009 Sports

Both win on penalty kicks over Pele & Sunburst Camptown

By Franklin Wilson

The action was grueling in both semi-finals of the 20th Kashif and Shanghai Football tournament on Monday evening last at the National Stadium, emerging victors after the dust was settled from the penalty spot in both games were BK International Western Tigers and Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United.

Fans were bracing for two extremely exciting encounters but as it turned out, the contests went beyond electrifying to exhausting and passionate as the teams went after each other relentlessly with the more determined coming out victors in the end; their immediate reward, a place in the championship match on New Year’s night at the same venue.

Defending champions Pele, playing with one player less following the exit of defender Marvin Liverpool in the 69th minute after attracting his second yellow card of the match fought gallantly but gave up from the penalty spot after a 0-0 stalemate following over two hours of battle. The Tigers roared to a 3-1 triumph and sealed their second attempt to win the coveted crown having lost to fellow city side Fruta Conquerors in the 2002/2003 final.

As the evening ended so it had begun with the first semi-final which featured Alpha United and Sunburst Camptown, decided from the spot following a similar 0-0 result at the end of regulation and extra time. Alpha sealed their spot in the final with a 4-2 penalty shoot out win.

In both cases, the goalkeepers made the difference for the winners, Western Tigers’ Derrick Carter, not a big name in the goalkeeping realms proved that he will now be a force to reckon with by bringing off some magnificent saves to lead his team to victory.

One that will last for a long time was the double save from respective shots by Golden Jaguar Konata Manning whose first shot was ordered retaken by the referee Roland Persaud. Carter showed that the first save was no bluff when he repeated on the second shot. He also saved Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant’s shot, Marvin Joseph’s attempt going wide of the upright. Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson was the only Pele player to score from the spot.

Western Tigers were flawless with their attempts Sherman David, Shawn Beveney and Dwayne Ali all nailing their shots past goalkeeper Ronny Aloema.

The action in regulation and extra time was very intense and nerve racking as the teams went about the task of claiming victory in admirable fashion. Pele’s danger man Richardson was kept quiet for the most part owing to some top defending by Western’s Captain Dillon Fraser who was a tower of strength at the back.

Fraser’s leadership skills kept his charges together and even though Pele did make some promising runs, created chances which all went wide of the mark, the Tigers stuck to the task well.

Pele’s Captain Dirk Archer was yellow carded in the 20th minute when he blatantly pulled down Beveney who had already gotten past the defence and was headed goal’s way, the incident occurred about 5 meters outside the box. Pele, with a chance of repeating their heroics like they did against the GDF in the quarter-finals, missed this time around in the dying stages of full time.

The goal drought continued in extra time with penalty kicks eventually being used to decide the winner. It was a tough game but the Tigers held their nerves when it mattered to seal a memorable and hard earned victory that will be the talk of the town for some time to come.

Their supporters swarmed the field when Marvin Joseph’s kick went flaying past the upright just after 12:00hrs on Tuesday morning.

The main event was almost a repeat of the curtain raiser, Sunburst Camptown failing to break the losing jinx against Alpha United. Both sides worked hard with Alpha coming close on quite a few occasions but just could not penetrate in the final third.

Changes were made at varying points by the teams as they sought the winner which never materialized at least during regulation and the final half hour of extra time.

Alpha’s custodian Ronson Williams continued to enjoy a great 2009 having been named best goalkeeper in the inaugural Suriname Independence Cup which Guyana won (1st overseas tournament win in history) and also named the Best Player for his club in 2009, again stepped up to take his side to victory.

He saved Orlando Gilgeous’ shot after Captain Nigel Codrington hit the cross bar with the first kick. Reshawn Sandiford and Troy Prescod were on target but it was not enough to save their side from defeat.

Alpha’s Captain Howard Lowe who is also Captain of the ‘Golden Jaguars’ again led from the front by scoring his side’s first kick from the spot. Dwight Peters, Issa (Abassi) McPherson and Keyon Edwards all emulated their Captain to lead 2007/2008 champions to a tough win.

The respective losers, Sunburst Camptown and Pele will face off in the third-place playoff on New Year’s night ahead of the championship match which is anticipated to be another great battle between the Tigers and Alpha.