Alpha wins NAMILCO Football Festival

Jan 30, 2011 Sports

Underlines status as the best

By Rawle Welch
Even though they looked way below their best, Alpha United used another opportunity to underline their status as the best team in local football with another resounding win after thumping an outclassed Santos 3-0 in the final of the NAMIICO Football Festival which concluded on Friday evening, at the Tucville Ground.
The local ‘Manchester United’ who has dominated the Guyana landscape, winning the GFF Super League, the Kashif & Shanghai and now NAMIICO titles continued their mesmerising run to add another accolade to their burgeoning collection.
On target for the winners were tournament Most Valuable Player Shawn Bishop (61st, 90th), who ended the competition with a total of seven goals and Anthony Abrams in the 10th minute.
Watched by a fair-sized crowd including Chief Executive Officer of NAMIICO Bert Sukhai, other top executives and staffers, the finals got off to an enterprising start when home-based Fruta Conquerors inflicted a crushing 6-0 victory over Sunburst Camptown to claim third place.
The prolific Vurlon Mills (14th, 62nd) and Dwayne Lawrence (45th, 51st) led the way and they were supported by single strikes from Pernel Schultz (47th) and Keifa Adams (90th).
The feature contest begun with the national champions Alpha immediately on the offensive and should have taken the lead very early, but Abrams bundled his effort after being presented with an open goal.
However, he was quick to make amends when he took full advantage of a mix-up in communication between goalkeeper O’Neil Haywood and one of his defenders that left him unmarked in the penalty area and he made no mistake, patting an easy right-foot shot into the nets.
Haywood shortly after was brought back into action when the nippy Abrams outran his marker and unleashed a powerful shot that that was partially stopped, but subsequently cleared by a defender.
Santos all this time had two tame shots on goal that failed to trouble national keeper Ronson Williams, who made them look easy. The half came with no addition to the scoreline.
In the second period, Alpha were approaching their best form in the game with Abrams, Shavane Seaforth, Shawn Bishop and Dwight Peters wreaking havoc on the opposition backline and could have increased their advantage further, except for some poor finishing with Abrams the chief culprit.
However, Bishop, a former member of the national line-up eventually gave the champs the cushion they needed when he expertly floated an accurate left-footed shot over the defence and head of Haywood that sailed into the roof of the nets. It was a delivery of sheer artistry.
By this time, the relentless assault by Alpha had taken its toll on Santos’ defence with Haywood having to make some good saves to prevent further embarrassment. On the stroke of full time, Bishop almost from nowhere produced a cracker.
He received a pass at the top of the 25-yard circle and hammered a ripper past the outstretched hands of Haywood to end the misery.
Alpha carted off the top prize of $500,000, while Santos took home $200,000, Conquerors $100,000 and Camptown $50,000 and trophies.
The two scholarships put up by Global Technology were won by Conquerors Pernel Schultz and Alpha’s Kris Camacho, while Williams was voted the Best Goalkeeper.
Meanwhile, the tournament was made possible through the support of the following Companies: National Milling Company of Guyana (NAMILCO), Banks DIH Limited, GT&T, Oasis Water Company, Bayridge Taxi Service that has donated One Cell Phone with $5000 credit, Global Technology, 2J’s General Store Regent Street, that has presented prize money for the tournament’s MVP and Junior’s Jewellery Robb Street that has put up one Gold Chain.

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