Christianburg Wismar Secondary School and Shiva Boys’ Hindu College from Trinidad and Tobago were the first teams to record wins in the KFC Goodwill Football tournament, and the enthralling action has already gripped the fans who turned up to the Ministry of Education ground, Carifesta Avenue.
Christianburg, playing in the final match of the night, were made to work for their win which only gave two points on Saturday evening at the opening night of the three-day tournament.
Prior to the start of the tournament, the organisers had stated teams would play for either a win (at the end of 90 minutes), lose or draw, but a late change allowed penalty kicks after regulation time.
Ironically, the Linden unit’s win came up against Annandale Secondary, a team they placed second to in the GuyOil School League. The 5-3 penalty win was preceded by a thrilling 2-2 score line at the end of regulation time.
Omari Glasglow made the initial breakthrough for the East Coast Demerara unit in the 42nd minute. Late in the second half, Andrew Mayers in the space of two minutes catapulted the Lindeners into the lead with goals in the 78th and 80th, but there was one more twist in the match as Kurt Rudder in the fourth minute of injury time.
In the night’s feature match, the Trinidadians made a promising start to their campaign in Guyana, holding off a talented Annai Secondary 2-0.
Annai were quite unfortunate in the second half, having three goals called for off-side in tight contest. Setting up the victory for Shiva Boys were Gessiah Bishop, netting a penalty in the fourth, and Nikel Rawlings in the 23rd.
Action continues on Tuesday (December 18) where Christianburg and Annai will do battle from 17:00h, followed by Shiva Boys and Annandale from 19:00h.
