GDF claw back to draw with Alpha 2-2; Gelder de Kourou 1, Inter Moengotapoe 1

Aug 28, 2010 Sports

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Celebration Time Come On!!! GDF's Warren Gilkes (3rd right) is congratulated after pulling one back for his team against Alpha United. Gilkes also scored the equaliser.

By Franklin Wilson

Fans witnessing day two of the 3rd Inter Guiana Club Football Championship had their monies worth with both games ending in exhilarating draws yesterday afternoon at the GCC Ground Bourda.
The Guyana Defence Force displayed a high level of fitness and focus at the death to claw their way back for an equal share of the points with Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United; their duel ending 2-2, Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams slamming in a double to give Alpha a 2-0 cushion which was brought to naught by the Army’s Warren Gilkes who banged in the brace.
The first game on a memorable afternoon also produced a thriller with French Guiana’s Gelder de Kourou’s 90+5 minute penalty stunning Inter Moengotapoe who were sailing high and large having netted in the 33rd minute.
GDF, playing second fiddle to Alpha for some time now on the local scene put on one of their better performances in a long time as they took the attack to Alpha in the second half to come away with a point that takes them to 2 along with Inter Moengatopoe; Alpha though still remain at the top with 4 points, Gelder de Kourou laying at the bottom with 1.
This situation means that any of the three top teams are in with a chance of winning this 3rd edition of the tournament.
Alpha will face Inter Moengotapoe in their final game on Sunday evening at the same venue with the GDF opening against Gelder de Kourou from 18:00hrs. A win for Alpha will see them winning the championship. If they lose their game and the GDF take care of business against the French Guiana side, they will be the overall victors.
Both local sides will have at the back of their minds that the respective host countries before ensured that the championship remained in their country.
However, the main event yesterday saw the GDF giving up a 2-0 advantage to Alpha with 3 minutes to go before half time, Anthony Abrams on target in the 32nd and 42nd minute. The first goal was scored after goalkeeper and Captain Delon Young failed to gather the ball cleanly from a corner – the ball spilled out of his hands across goal from first post after a close in header by Solomon Austin and the alert Abrams helped it into goal. Six minutes later the Army could have drawn level but missed an open goal; the culprits being Telson McKinnon and Hubert Pedro, both failing to make contact with the ball at the far post from a tantalizing square across goal at the edge of the six yard box by Delroy Deen.
Alpha’s second goal was again as a result of indecisive goalkeeping with Abrams beating his man at the near post, Solomon Austin again feeding him with the ball on the left side.
Like in their game against Gelder, the GDF when in the ascendancy somehow manages to give away that advantage with poor plays. Their lapses were pounced upon in a flash by Alpha who made them pay dearly.
The Technical staff had their work cut out to motivate their charges for the final 45 minutes but it seemed that they did a fine job with the Army showing more focus and realizing that they were the fitter bunch, took the attack to ‘The Hammer’.
Changes were made by both teams as they sought to, in the case of Alpha; maintain the advantage, with GDF, seeking to narrow the lead.
Andrew Murray, Philbert Moffat, Shavane Seaforth and Chris Camacho were all introduced to add some stability to Alpha’s game with the GDF introducing Warren Gilkes, Stellon David and Peter Parks who collectively made all the difference in their attack.
Gilkes narrowed the lead in the 64th minute with a well executed volley at just inside the area that left Alpha’s goalie Ronson Williams skating on the carpet as the ball settled in the back of the nets. It was a powerful, well timed and well directed shot that added real life back into the game. The goal added momentum back into the GDF attack as they felt they had a chance to at least draw the game with Alpha playing for time. Fitness it was that saw the Army through in the end but Alpha to their credit did create some chances that were not buried, though less than the first half. The equalizer was a well taken shot again by Gilkes but it was not handled well by Williams who failed to gather it completely as it bounced over the line. Williams did gather it again but the Assistant Referee was already on her way to the centre line. Subsequent appeals by the alpha defence and Williams failed to change what was a clear goal.
Inter Moengotapoe took the lead against Gelder in the 33rd minute through a Dina Steven goal and were almost certain that they would have been taking away full points from the game.
But in the 5th minute of added on time a defender handled the ball in the box and referee Stanley Lancaster had no other alternative but to signal to the penalty spot.
Rhudy Evans made no mistake as he blasted the ball past the outstretched hands of Inter Moengotapoe’s custodian, Stefano Baneti in the 5th minute of added on time.
GDF head Coach, Brazilian Luiz Franco, who will be leaving Guyana in two weeks time, complimented his team for a robust performance.
Franco stated that they had planned to play the game in two halves and were hoping to end the first half 0-0 “That did not happen but we knew that in Gilkes, David and Parks we had three attacking players who can take the fight to Alpha and we are happy with the result in the end. We are confident going into the final game and the motivation is high. We expect to play at a high intensity against Gelder on Sunday and beat them and eventually win this competition.”
Franco’s opposite number, Wayne Dover while complimenting the GDF for coming back into the game the way they did believed that poor defensive coverage by his team and a fitter Army side made the difference for his opponents.
“We will approach our final game on Sunday with confidence, we will do a recovery session tomorrow (today) and have the guys do more work on covering each other during the game. I was a bit disappointed that we did not close them out; even in the second half we created four running chances but failed to make them count. But this is how it goes sometimes, we accept the result and we still have our destiny in our hands.”

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