A night of entertaining football brought the curtains down on the Round of 16 in the Prime Minister’s Cup semi-professional football tournament with Weymouth Wales and Ellerton Club rounding out the final eight teams to advance into the quarterfinals.
Weymouth Wales’ green machines were destructive, as they hammered Cave Hill 9-0 with a hat-trick scored by senior national player Ackeel Applewhaite on Sunday night in Speightstown, St Peter.
The result between Wales, a team comprising of skillful players, and Cave Hill came as no surprise, but the nightcap encounter between Ellerton, overcoming a one goal deficit to stage a fantastic 2-1 win against Pride of Gall Hill, had spectators’ full attention.
Gall Hill took an early lead when Joisha Commins playing the forward position was brought down inside the area and the men from Christ Church were given a penalty by referee Jamar Springer.
Gall Hill Captain and central defender Ramon Rollins stepped up and scored the shot past Ellerton goalkeeper Jamar Brewster who went the opposite direction to his left in the 39th minute.
Ellerton began playing a lot more assertive in search of the equaliser as Captain Shakille Belle showed a clean pair of heels, outpacing Gall Hill defenders in search of goal.
In the second half, Ellerton continued to take control of the ball but struggled to find a goal as Gall Hill played wonderful defence. With time slipping away and Gall Hill seemingly headed for glory and a place in the quarterfinals, Ellerton brought on attacking midfielder Rashad Jules late in the second half.
Right away Jules began to make an impact and even though he failed to score a 25-yard free kick won by Ellerton when he struck the ball with too much power, he made up for that error moments later.
Connecting with a long searching ball, Jules with great control managed to score the near post shot in the 85th minute, past Gall Hill custodian Justin Neil, doing well for most of the game but was unable to make the save.
With the scores level 1-1 following 90+5 minutes of additional time, Ellerton looked slightly more energetic. They constantly ran at Gall Hill defence and it eventually paid off with the winning goal from Captain Shakille Belle in the 105th minute. Setup nicely by his teammates, including Jules doing the groundwork, the left-footer Belle drove home the shot.
As the teams switched sides, Ellerton defended strongly with central defenders Shane Codrington and Jayden Goodridge ensured that no threat was posed to their defensive third.
Tactically, Ellerton stalled the ball in the second half of extra time, forcing referee Springer into giving stern warning to the players as Gall Hill showed their frustration but was unable to respond.
Ellerton will hope to get past Wales when they meet in the quarterfinals scheduled to start on September 3rd and 10th at Friendship Ground. Also in the quarterfinals are Paradise to play Kickstart, Claytons Kola Tonic Notre Dame against Brittons Hill and University of the West Indies (UWI) Blackbirds to compete against Wotton Club.
The last match in the Round of 16 was all about Wales coached by Carlos Jackman. While Cave Hill did not allow Wales to settle for the first ten minutes into the game, the men from Carrington Village eventually found their rhythm.
A lovely build up play between attacking midfielder Nadre Butcher and Wales Captain Hadan Holligan resulted in an exceptional finish from Holligan to give his team the lead in the 16th minute.
Holligan was joined by other cast members including hat-trick scorer Ackeel Applewhaite dedicating his three goals, scored in the 32nd, 52nd, and 89th minute, to his late brother Jacobi Grannum.
Fellow midfielders Nadre Butcher 46th, Romario Harewood 53rd, Elijah Downey 68th along with a goal from former Barbados striker Zeco Edmee in the 82nd and an own goal from Natario Hall in the 77th minute summed up the enjoyable time Wales had in the scoring third.
(AS)
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