GFF, KS inaugural Futsal KO tournament (Night 3)… Blackout stalls start as Berbice, Melanie & Timehri register wins

Dec 20, 2021 Sports

Lomar Grant scored in the 2nd half for Berbice All Stars in the opening game

Kaieteur News
By Sean Devers
An absolutely brilliant performance in Goal by Berbice All Stars’ Tierre Phillips earned him the MVP award and helped his team to a 3-nil victory over Mocha Ballers in the opening game of night three in the first ever Guyana Football Federation and Kashif and Shanghai’s 5-a-side Futsal tournament at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Saturday night.
Melanie beat Beacon FC of Bartica 4-0 and Timehri Ballers trounced Potaro Strikers 7-nil as the night got off to inauspicious start when a power outage delayed the scheduled 7:00PM start by over an hour.
Another fair size gathering with included Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson Jr, National cricketer Christopher Barnwell and Olympian Boxer Keevin Allicock, watched as Phillips’ outstanding work between the uprights, an airtight defence and skilful football resulted in Berbice All Stars advancing to the next round of a tournament which has prize money of $2 million, with the winner taking home $1Million.
The team from the Ancient County came out with all guns blazing but wasted three opportunities to score in the first two minutes with shots that were off target.

A Bartica player about to pass the ball in their 3-0 defeat against Berbice All Stars.

Mocca Ballers kept pushing forward but most of their shots were cleared by alert defending and when they managed to penetrate, Phillips made some magnificent saves which included him acrobatically tipping the ball over the Bar from a powerful right footer.
Kevon Williams opened the account for the Berbicans when he beat the Keeper to his right from close range and at half-time the score read Berbice All Stars 1, Mocca nil.
Mocca tried to up the tempo in the second half but could not manage to score goals as several power shots were deflected off the body of the Berbicans or well saved by Phillips.
While Mocca were in attacking mode, it was Carlos Grant who found the back the net to make 2-0 before Berbice sealed the game when Lashaw Mayles scored the third goal for Berbice.
In the second game between Melanie and Beacon FC, a brace from Phillip Williams and first half goals from Denze Junor and Jermin Clark rallied Melanie to 4-nil lead by half time and so it remained when the final whistle was blown.
In the final game of the night, a hat-trick from Timothy Thomas, a brace from Tskedi Sealey and goals from Runnel Gordon and Kevin Baptiste powered Timheri Ballers to an emphatic 7-nil drubbing after leading 3-0 at the break.
The action is scheduled to continue from 7:00PM tomorrow.