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GUYANA CHRONICLE Wednesday, September 19, 2018
A combination of youth and experience leads to Conquerors Elite League title – Thomas By Rawle Toney FRUTA Conquerors Football Club can finally boast of being Guyana’s number one team, after their Tucville-based unit solidified their position at the top of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Elite League last weekend, following their 1-1 result with last season’s winners - Guyana Defence Force (GDF). Domini Garnett scored in the 66th minute for the SM Jaleel-sponsored club and while Sherwin Caesar responded late (90+3 minute) for GDF, the result was good enough to see ‘orange men’ over the line with 42 points and a game in-hand. “The collective feeling of the club is that we have finally been able to overcome the hurdles and challenges of not being able to win a senior title after a number of years. Even though we did win the GFA 1st Division Title under coach Allen in 2014/2015, our ultimate goal was to win the GFF Elite League,” Club secretary Daniel Thomas told Chronicle Sport in an exclusive interview yesterday, speaking on the
Fruta Conquerors Club Secretary Daniel Thomas
club’s resounding success this season. According to Thomas, a combination of youth and experience played a major factor in the team’s success, adding, “We have been able to have a good base from a very large pool of very talented youth players coming through our system, where they constantly train and play competitively and if one was to look at the progress of players such as Jeremy Garrett, Ryan Hackett , Raushan Ritch, Nicholas McArthur, Simon Moore, Leon Sealey
Yaw, Cecil Jackman; these are all youth players under the age of 20 years who would have been a part of our youth system and would have now progressed to the Elite League.” “Secondly, we have been fortunate to have very good senior coaches and both coaches, Allen (when he was here) and our current head coach Sampson Gilbert, have done tremendous work with the players. I think that coach Sampson has a wealth of knowledge, as he also works closely with the Guyana Football Federation developmental youth plan, so he’s very aware of what needs to be done and how the players should be prepared to ascend to the next higher level required of them,” Thomas said. Thomas showered praise on the club’s long-time sponsor, Trinidad and Tobago-based SM Jaleel and Company, through its local subsidiary, Guyana Beverages Inc., with praises, for being at the team’s side for the past 20 years. . “Also I think that for this season we have been able to fit a number of piec-
The Conquerors! Fruta Conquerors FC before kickoff in the GFF Elite League
es together in terms of getting the balance of the team correct, you know we have wonderfully gifted midfielders, such as Jahall Greaves and Denis Edwards, who have both played magnificently over the season, and I must admit the revelation of our junior keeper Leon Sealey-Yaw has been outstand-
ing between the uprights.” “We’ve had players come and fit right into the team like Domini Garnett and Trevor Jones. We’ve had the likes of our veteran players Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson, Delon Williams, Anthony Abrams, King Solomon Austin who were all over the season to
give guidance to the younger players,” Thomas said, in applauding the players. In the 17 games played so far (one more to go), Fruta Conquerors scored 50 goals (the most in the tournament) and conceded a league-low six goals. The team chalked up 13 wins, played to three draws and only tasted defeat once. The usually candid Thomas told Chronicle Sport that the stats also demonstrated and showed the club’s superior scoring and astute defensiveness during the third installation of the Elite League. “We can say it could have been our experiences from Season I and II, but our players did the work and now have been rewarded for their efforts. We hope this win serves as a catalyst for better and brighter days ahead at Fruta. Plans are afoot to very soon launch a Fruta Conquerors Youth Academy and these plans shall be officially revealed to the public over time. This Academy shall be a fully operational Academy with all the best that can be had for full player development,” Thomas opined.
Swan dispose of St Cuthbert’s Mission 4-2 in Region Four Heritage playoff SWAN Football Team, comprising a number of players drawn from their Under-15 and U-18 teams, stood firmly to the challenge as they disposed of St Cuthbert’s Mission 4-2 in a three-way competition to select a team to represent Region Four in the 2018 Heritage football competition. Playing at the St Cuthbert’s Mission ground, the well-uniformed Swan team took on St Cuthbert’s Mission, who evidently had a number of older players, making the contest a ‘David versus Goliath’ battle. Swan opened the scoring in the 11th minute through Eran Hussain who skilfully dribbled three players from the opposing team before hitting the ball into the net with a solid right foot volley. St Cuthbert’s Mission
Swan FC goalscorers (from left), Eran Hussain, Mellon Joseph, Ishmael Pulsram and Edson Williams.
had a perfect opportunity to level the score four minutes later through a penalty, taken by Lorenzo Clenkian but his shot went over the crossbar. However, 23 minutes into the game St Cuthbert’s equalised the score at one-
all when Zack Ferreira stunned Swan goalkeeper with a terrific kick that went straight into the net. Playing a better game, Swan scored their second goal in the 31st minute through Mellon Joseph and
held unto the one-goal lead until halftime. However, in the 53rd minute of the second half Swan’s lead was once again increased through Ishmael Pulsram. Edson Williams upped the score in the 57th min-
ute, thus condemning St Cuthbert’s Mission to what was going to be a heavy defeat as the score read 4-1 in favour of Swan. A determined St Cuthbert’s Mission team tried hard to reduce the score and were able to pull one back in the 59th minute through Leo Evans but the final whistle blew with the score 4-2. Coach and manager of the Swan Football Team, Andre Gonsalves expressed satisfaction over his team’s win noting that the players stuck to their original game plan of seeking to control the ball, while looking for opportunities to score. “I think we may have missed about two or three scoring opportunities but overall we played very well and it is reflected in the results,” he said. Gonsalves expressed confidence that
his team would win the playoff, thus earning the right to represent Region Four at the National Heritage competition. This is our first year playing in the competition as we pulled out last year before the playoffs owing to what we termed unprofessional and unsportsmanlike behaviour of some of the players representing other teams. However, thus year we are here and I can assure you that while we are fielding a young team the guys are very determined to win this playoff,” Gonsalves declared. St Cuthbert’s Mission will now play Laluni football team with the winners facing Swan in the final for the opportunity to represent Region Four at the National Heritage Games set for this weekend in Georgetown.