Conquerors clinch Championship after Sunday’s draws

Sep 18, 2018 Sports

Domini Garnett – Fruta Conquerors FC

Sherwayne Caesar – GDF FC

Jamaal Harvey – Den Amstel FC

Ryan Adolph – Western Tigers

Fruta Conquerors Football Club (FCFC) has been very competitive in recent years, placing major emphasis on developing young players. Under the stewardship of new coach Sampson Gilbert, the Tucville based club has won the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Elite League in the competition’s third season with one game to spare.
Heading into Sunday night’s hyped double header at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground where, in order to win the league Conquerors needed a win against season two champions, Guyana Defence Force (GDF) or Western Tigers dropping points in the feature clash against the free scoring Den Amstel FC, and they enjoyed the latter.
Western Tigers needed to win all three of their remaining matches if they were to pry the Elite League from point’s leaders Conquerors which has already secured the championship cup and the $5million cash prize. An equaliser from Den Amstel’s Jamal Harvey just eleven minutes from stoppage time was enough to end Tigers’ title hopes.
A fair sized crowd at the GFC ground witnessed Western Tigers fluff a good opportunity to defeat Den Amstel in the feature game after Ryan Adolf had fired them into the lead in the 64th minute but Harvey had other ideas and his 79th minute goal was enough to salvage a point for the potent West Coast Demerara team.
In the build up, it was noted that Western Tigers would have needed to score at least two goals to get past Den Amstel and the Ruimveldt based club had an excellent opportunity in the first half through their striker Hubert Pedro after he was played through on goal by Pernell Schultz. However, the number nine who is nicknamed ‘Berty’ rounded Den Amstel’s number one but failed to pull the trigger. In the opening clash, a visibly upset Gilbert was on edge after his side Conquerors had conceded a stoppage time goal which was squeezed in by GDF’s Sherwayne Caesar following an unnecessary but blistering counter-attack that stemmed from a Conquerors’ set-piece.
Before Caesar’s goal, Conquerors had gone ahead in the 66th minute. With the instructions of fans on the touchline, Ryan Hackett had switched from the right to the wide-left midfield position and immediately after, he served up a perfectly weighed cross to his teammate Domini Garnett who made no mistake in smashing the ball into the back of the net.

GDF’s Darrell George (2nd left) tussles with Conquerors’ Ryan Hackett, the game ended 1-1.

The former Grove Hi Tech skipper and forward made no mistake with his thundering power-header from close range. With the result, Conquerors will enter their final match against Western Tigers on Friday as champions after gaining 42 points from their 17 matches played with an incredible goal difference of +44.
GDF, Den Amstel and Western Tigers, second, third and fourth respectively on the points table will still be looking to finish the tournament strong with the runners’ up cash prize of $2million still up for grabs while third place will pocket $1million.
Matches continue tomorrow at the same venue with two more matches featuring GDF against the relegated Cougars first at 19:00hrs followed by Western Tigers against Victoria Kings at 21:00hrs. (Calvin Chapman)