Old Fort Mustangs created the first big upset of the competition by upstaging defending champs GCC Vintage in their Veterans’ clash on Tuesday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall as the GTT National Indoor Hockey Championships continued.
It was a productive night for Old Fort as their Men’s first division side, Old Fort Lamborghini, got the better of Saints 2-0 and their female first division side, Old Fort Team 2.1.2, edged the Saints Ladies 3-2.
It is not often that an Over-35 match takes centre stage in a night of hockey, but the performance of Old Fort Mustangs and GCC Vintage brought the crowd to its feet as the score wavered back and forth in a match that was decided in the final minutes of play.
Old Fort’s Ivor Thompson, a former international player and MVP for Guyana, was first on the score sheet with a low penalty corner shot just two minutes into the game.
Prolific marksman Askofu Simon then added to the Old Fort lead one minute later to leave Vintage GCC stunned just three minutes into the game.
GCC however, found their footing and seemed to take control of the match as they drew even through Alan Fernandes and Kevin Spencer by halftime, and Philip Fernandes put them up by one shortly after the resumption. A second goal by hard-working midfielder Alan Fernandes with a little over ten minutes remaining, it was expected, had surely put the game beyond Old Fort’s reach.
With the score at 4-2 in Vintage’s favour, Askofu Simon began showing glimpses of what was to come. While Simon scored in the 19th minute however, GCC’s Devin Hooper kept his team’s two goal cushion by answering in the 24th minute.
Down 3-5, Old Fort would then produce the most amazing five minutes of hockey in the entire competition. Ivor Thompson scored his second penalty corner in the 25th minute for Old Fort and Askofu Simon would blast home three unanswered goals with the final one being in the penultimate minute of play to give Old Fort a convincing 7-5 victory.
Simon would finish as the leading scorer of the match with five goals to his name.
The Saints Men’s first division team put in a brave performance against the powerful Old Fort Lamborghini, but the match would end predictably in favour of Old Fort 2-0. A Theodore Thierens penalty corner and Omar Hopkinson field goal separated the two teams, giving Old Fort their second win of the competition in as many matches.
Old Fort Team 2.1.2 had a more difficult challenge when they played Saints in the Women’s first division competition. The young Saints girls seemed the more energetic and seemed to thrive under the determination and leadership of team captain Tekeisha Deleon.
Old Fort’s Bhavani Kaladeen put her team ahead in the sixth minute, but captain Deleon drew the scores levelled ten minutes later leaving a half time score of 1-1. DeLeon would add a second goal four minutes after the break to give Saints a 2-1 lead, but Old Fort’s captain Minsodia Culpepper and striker Romichelle Brummell would each score one in the 32nd and 39th minutes respectively to give Old Fort the 3-2 victory.
The Hikers Young Guns defeated Phoenix 4-2 and Old Fort Rogue defeated SHC Sensations 3-0 in the two Men’s second division battles. GBTI Spice swept aside Old Fort Goal Chasers 3-0 in the lone Women’s second division fixture.
