Guyana’s indoor developmental hockey team, Supernova, moved into the Ventures International Indoor semi-final with impressive wins over Queen’s Park II (QPCCII) and Fatima senior sides. They will now oppose the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force for the chance of making the final.
Their first match against QPCCII was a tight affair throughout the first half until Omar Hopkinson put his side ahead with a clinical penalty corner conversion in the 11th minute.
As the second half began the high pressing, aggressive approach by the Guyanese started to pay dividends as the experienced QPCCII side struggled against the sustained pressure. A Warren Williams double in the 16th and 25th minutes put his team up 3-0 before Shane Samuels converted a penalty corner for the opposition in the 29th minute to make the game interesting.
However, any hopes of a QPCCII comeback were quickly extinguished by Shakeem Fausette and Nandalall Persaud in the 29th and 30th minutes respectively. Full time score 5-1.
In their final group stage match of the day the Guyanese faced a team that could match their pace and intensity for the first time in the tournament. The young Fatima side was given an early wakeup call when Shakeem Fausette received the ball on the left side boar, went around the defender before wrapping the ball around the legs of the advancing goalkeeper.
Jamarj Assanah doubled the lead in the 4th minute when he spun around the opposing left back and slipped the ball pass the Goalkeeper from the narrowest of angles. Fatima made it 1-2 through the stick of Joshua Olton in the 9th minute but a penalty corner conversion by Kareem McKenzie and another Assanah moment of brilliance in the 13th minute gave the Guyanese a comfortable 4-1 halftime lead.
Fatima dominated the second half would have made it a lot closer if it wasn’t for the heroics of Goalkeeper Paul D’Andrade. Olton scored a second for his team in the 21st minute before Assanah completed his hat trick with a carbon copy of his first goal.
In his post-match assessment, national coach Robert Fernandes said: “The boys put in a great effort in their first match against a vastly experienced team. Fatima was a much different opponent because like us they’re young fit and fast, but the boys controlled the game well enough to see it through. (The) challenge (in the semi-final) will be a big step up but they have answered all the questions asked of them so far and as our record shows we can be competitive with anyone here.”
