GT Beeer/Petra Organisation Futsal Competition… Bent Street outlasts Sparta in breathtaking and unforgettable final

Sep 15, 2015 Sports

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– Dangerous Festival City finishes third

Paying patrons and even the specially invited guests were treated to a breathtaking and unforgettable performance by eventual winner Bent Street and Sparta Boss that brought a fitting conclusion to the inaugural GT Beer / Petra Organisation Futsal Competition late Sunday night, at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Watched by what had to be the biggest attendance for a sporting event at the arena for sometime, the final lived up to its pre-game hype of an anticipated rivetting showdown and one littered with goals.
Every prediction was deadly accurate and in the end, Bent Street led by four goals from the indomitable Colin Nelson outlasted a fatigued Sparta Boss unit over the dying minutes to earn a dramatic 8-6 win to capture the crown and $500,000, while the losers went home with $250,000.
Sparta Boss’ Sheldon Shepherd made a valiant effort to keep them in the game, but with a side missing two of its best players in Devon Millington and Gregory Richardson it was always going to be a tough task against a team that possessed a deep bench with some very good futsal players.
Earlier, Festival City showed why they are a dangerous team to come up against when they easily defeated West Front Road ‘Gold is Money’ 10-6 to walk away with third place and the $125,000 prize, while the losing team received $75,000.
In the main attraction, Shepherd sent the team’s supporters into euphoric celebrations when he swept in a cross from the right side into the goal after four minutes.
However, Nelson, who has been amongst the most lethal shooters throughout the tournament, gave an early aide-memoire of his power after blasting in from just inside the penalty area to level the proceedings and in the process ignite similar bouts of rapture among their fans two minutes later.
Just to emphasise his dominance, Nelson returned one minute later to give his team the lead with a crunching shot past the Sparta goalkeeper.
Shepherd, however, was determined to match him and when he curled a shot past the opposing goalkeeper stationed on the near post, the arena went wild as the scores leveled at 2-2 after nine minutes.
The diminutive O’kenie Fraser squeezed a shot through the legs of the goalkeeper in the 14th minute to raise another spell of pandemonium among their supporters as the teams headed to the break with Bent Street leading 3-2 and all to play for in the final period.
Once again the man to the rescue for Sparta was Shepherd, who fired past the goalkeeper from a tight angle and that too prompted celebrations one minute after the resumption.
Amos Ramsay responded in the 17th minute for Bent Street, before Eusi Phillip did likewise for Sparta and the scores were deadlocked again.
A careless blunder from Sparta’s goalkeeper, who in his attempt to trap a back pass, watched in horror as the ball slid under his foot and trickled into the goal thereby giving Bent Street a 5-4 advantage after nineteen minutes.
For the first time in the game a team was able to take a two-goal cushion when Steffon Ramsay fired past the goalkeeper in the 23rd minute for a 6-4 lead with seven minutes left on the clock.
Ramsay’s goal initiated a mini exodus of fans, but that was checked almost immediately as Sparta responded one minute later through the experienced Travis Grant, who stinging effort beat defence and goalkeeper.
A screaming left-footer from the energetic Carl Tudor was all it took to send the packed Hall into hysteria five minutes from full time.
Just when it looked as though the game was heading for a frenetic end, Bent Street clearly the stronger of the two in terms of stamina, fired in two goals in rapid succession to knock the wind out of the Sparta Boss’s unit.
Who else could it be but the energy tank in Nelson who lashed in the decisive goals in the 26th and 27th minutes and that two-goal advantage held until the final whistle sounded.
Among those that witnessed the final included Banks Beer Executive Brian Choo-Hen, GT Beer Brand Manager Geoff Clement, NaMilCo Finance Controller Fitzroy McLeod and Technical Director of the Golden Jaguars Jamal Shabazz.
The other sponsors were NaMilCo and Trophy Stall of Bourda Market.
In the night’s full results:
Sparta Boss-6 vs Bent Street-8
Bent Street Scorers
Colin Nelson-6th, 7th, 26th and 27th
Okeene Fraser-14th
Amos Ramsay-17th
Own Goal-19th
Steffon Ramsay-23rd
Sparta Boss Scorers
Sheldon Shepherd-4th, 9th and 16th
Eusi Phillips-18th
Travis Grant-24th
Carl Tudor-25th
Third Place playoff
Festival City-10 vs West Front Road-6
Festival City Scorers
Eon Alleyne-19th, 20th, 23rd and 25th
Dwayne Lawrence-6th and 12th
Solomon Austin-19 secs and 29th
Daniel Favourite-28th and 30th
West Front Road Scorers
Hubert Pedro-11th
Own Goal-17th
Darren Benjamin-24th and 26th
Randolph Wagner-26th and 27th

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