Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ National Playoffs...Sparta Boss shows North Ruimveldt who is in charge

Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ National Playoffs…Sparta Boss shows North Ruimveldt who is in charge

Jun 09, 2015 Sports

– West Front Road finishes third
A large crowd of supporters from the two finalists were treated to one of the best finals in the history of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ National Playoffs which ended Sunday night, at Demerara Park, Ruimveldt.

Caribbean Skills Challenge champion Trinidadian Mark Taylor (fourth left) hands over the winning trophy and first prize to Sparta Boss Captain Devon Millington in the presence of teammates, Guinness Brand Manager Lee Baptiste (right) and Tournament Organiser Troy Mendonca (left) on Sunday night.

The two central characters, defending Georgetown champion North Ruimveldt and new champion Sparta Boss combined to produce a scintillating conclusion to an exciting night of the shorter version of the game.
Their passage to the final was made possible after defeating Showstoppers and West Front Road respectively in their semi-final encounters.
The highly anticipated showdown final lived up to expectations as Sparta Boss with the nippy Devon Millington, Sheldon Shepherd and Denis Edwards at the centre of their attack went ahead as early as the sixth minute through a moment of magic.
It started with Edwards racing on to a pass from the back and with an opposing player attempting to dispossess him he delivered a pinpoint backheel to Shepherd, who had sprinted from the defence and he made no mistake lashing the ball past a surprised Gerald Gritten.
The goal evoked wild celebrations among the team’s supporters as they urged them to keep on the offensive.
North Ruimveldt though did not sit back and former national midfielder Travis ‘Zorro’ Grant and the energetic Joshua Browne engineered some threatening incursions and Sparta Boss

North Ruimveldt’s Travis Grant (backing camera) attempts to penetrate the defence of Sparta Boss in the final on Sunday.

was lucky not to concede as Grant hit the woodwork, while a particular effort from Browne landed inches outside the upright.
The half came with the scoreline reading 1-0 in favour of Sparta Boss.
After the break, they continued to attack with menace and their second goal came from a counter attack that was initiated when Grant was dispossessed following a raid of his own which saw Millington win possession and raced down the pitch to fire past a hapless last stop.
However, Browne responded three minutes later when he took advantage of a lapse in concentration from the Sparta Boss backline to hit a thunderous strike into the goal.
It signaled that the game was still alive and Sparta Boss were made to defend tenaciously as North Ruimveldt threw players forward with menacing intentions to secure the equaliser, but in the end the eventual champions backline held firm to allow them the opportunity to be Guyana’s representative at the Caribbean Tournament set for later this month in Kingston, Jamaica.
In the third place playoff, West Front Road recovered from a slow start to inflict a 6-1 thrashing on Showstoppers.
Earlier, Sparta Boss survived a fierce showdown against West Front, beating them 1-0, while North Ruimveldt coasted to a comfortable 3-0 triumph over Showstoppers.
The winning team took home $500,000, while the runner-up received $250,000, 3rd place $150,000 and 4th place $75,000.
Reigning Caribbean Skills Challenge champion Mark Taylor gave the crowd a thrilling exhibition of his wide array of proficiency with a football that grabbed their attention.
The night’s full results are seen below:
Final
Sparta Boss-2 vs North Ruimveldt-1
Sparta Scorers
Sheldon Shepherd-6th
Devon Millington-17th
North Ruimveldt Scorer
Joshua Browne-20th
Third Place
West Front Road-6 vs Showstoppers-1
West Front Road Scorers
Hubert Pedro-15th
Michael Pedro-16th and 23rd
Michael Oie-18th
Randolph Wagner-25th
Jamal Pedro-26th
Showstoppers Scorer
Nathan Allicock-6th
Semi-final-1
North Ruimveldt-3 vs Showstoppers-0
Travis Grant-21st and 29th
Colin Daniels-28th
Semi-final-2
Sparta Boss-1 vs West Front Road-0
Sheldon Shepherd-8th