Agricola and Kuru Kururu into semi-finals of MCY&S/East Bank Inter-Village football

Despite rain and overcast conditions on Sunday night, the heat was well and truly on, on the field of play when the quarter-finals of the inaugural Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport’s East Bank Inter-Village Football Tournament commenced with two riveting clashes.

Agricola once again had to rely on all their experience to stave off a valiant fight from the Soesdyke Linden Highway village of Swan; extra time was needed to separate the two villages with Agricola prevailing 5-3 in the end.

The evening’s first match saw Kuru Kururu maintaining their unbeaten run with a hard-fought 2-1 triumph over Upper Soesdyke as they sealed their final semi-final spot with their ever reliable veteran, Marvin ‘Munro’ Joseph stepping up to the plate for the third time in succession to see them through.

But the story of the night was the feature showdown; Agricola picked up where they left off a few weeks ago against Mocha, as they cantered to what seemed like a comfortable and even match-winning 3-0 lead by the 17th minute.

Goals from Shemar Sampson (fifth), Solomon Austin, the first of his double in the 13th minute, and Samuel Garnett placed Agricola in a very strong position and many felt it would have been easy going for them thereafter.

But, it wasn’t over as yet; whilst Swan is less experienced, they once again showed why they won their group as they again displayed a high level of fitness that almost saw them toppling Agricola.

Swan reduced the advantage in the 40th minute when Christoff Roberts found the back of the nets as the halftime whistle blew.

As the minutes went by in the second half, Agricola found out that the Swan team never quits coming at you, their fitness coming to the fore.

In the final five minutes of the match, Swan found a way to add discomfort to the Agricola camp twice, with unanswered goals.

In the 86th, it was their leading goal scorer, Abraham Webb, now joint highest with Grove’s Captain Domini Garnette (four each) who rocked the nets.

Two minutes later, the score was levelled when Anderson Webber found the back of the nets with momentum now on their side.

In the ensuing 20 minutes of extra time, it was Agricola which found their range once again and sealed the deal with goals either side of the period, Dennis Alexander (90+5), and Austin with his second (90+18) that led Agricola into the semis.

Kuru Kururu was sent into the lead by their most dependable player in the tournament so far, Marvin ‘Munro’ Joseph with a well struck free kick in the eighth minute. But, in like-manner, Upper Soesdyke responded in the 15th minute through Tevin Marshall.

The game was virtually settled in the 24th minute when Seith Adams’ well taken header at the last post from a left was drilled past Upper Soesdyke’ custodian, Junior Adams.

The focus will now be on the remaining two quarter-final match-ups on Tuesday evening. Grove will match skills with Kaneville in the main match from 21:00h with the curtain raiser between Timehri and Herstelling at 19:00h.

Kuru Kururu will play the winner of the Timehri vs Herstelling match with Agricola set to take on the winner of the Grove vs Kaneville encounter in the semi-finals set for Friday (May 8).

The final and third place games will be contested on Sunday (May 10).

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