HOCKEY: Old Fort top Saints U-19s 7-3

Old Fort tightened their grip on the Bounty Paper Towels Men’s Second Division League on Saturday last, with a convincing 7-3 victory over Saints Under-19s.  The Sequel meanwhile, maintained their second position in the pool standings with a similarly dominating win over Senior Saints 7-2.

Saints Under-19s seemed destined to upset the equilibrium of the tournament when the speedy Troy Hodge managed to break the nil-all deadlock of their match against pool leaders Old Fort in the seventh minute.  A defensive scramble by Old Fort resulted in a penalty stroke for Saints Under-19s which Hodge easily converted. 

National striker Jael Gaskin evened the score for Old Fort seven minutes later and the teams scored a goal each, through Gaskin for Old Fort and Shakeem Fausette for Saints, just before the half to make the halftime score 2-2.

Saints Under-19 would take the lead for the third time of the match with a Hilmar Chester strike but by now the confident Old Fort had received their full complement of players and took control of the game from thereon. 

Jason Clarke drew the scores even in the 32^nd minute of the 40-minute match through a penalty corner then Gaskin scored twice more to take his total to four.  Rafal Robertson and Warren Williams buried the Saints Under-19s further with a goal each to give Old Fort the 7-3 win.

The Sequel never seemed troubled by the opposition of Saints Seniors and were off to a flying start through two early goals from Medroy Scotland who was the outstanding finisher of the day. 

Veteran defender Robert Fernandes entered the game for Saints and brought a considerable measure of stability to the team and sparked their first goal through Kevin Edwards.  A long pass from Fernandes evaded the GCC deep defence and found the breaking Edwards who gave Saints its opening goal in the 14^th minute.

GHB president Philip Fernandes resumed the momentum for GCC however with a solo effort and solid finish, which was followed by a hat-trick of goals from former national Devin Hooper before Fernandes added a final goal high in the Saints net to give GCC its seventh goal of the match.  Yonnick Peters of Saints managed a penalty corner late in the second half but proved to be far from troubling for the Sequel who finished with a 7-2 victory.

As the first round of matches near completion, Old Fort are unbeaten and in top position of the pool with 12 points with the Sequel in second place with nine points.  Saints Under-19s have six points, Bounty GCC three, Hikers Cadets zero and Senior Saints zero. 

In the Ladies’ competition, Pizza Hut GCC find themselves in the familiar top spot with four points and Bingo Spartans with three points, while the other three teams- Old Fort, Saints and Woodpecker Hikers- have a point each. 

Matches will continue every weekend at Saints ground until May 20.