Winning start for Herstelling and Kuru Kururu in East Bank Inter-Village Football

Competitive football action returned to the East Bank corridor after a long hiatus when the inaugural East Bank Inter-Village Competition kicked off at the Eccles EE Ground on Saturday evening following a colourful march past of the villages.

It was a history making night on many fronts as it was also the first time that this ground hosted a competitive football match.

This new facility has been developed under the Government of Guyana’s Ground Enhancement initiative and jointly undertaken by the Ministry of Housing and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.

Apart from the march past before on-field action, there was also the distribution of equipment by the National Sports Commission to each village by Minister within the Office of The Prime Minister Kwame McCoy, Director of Sport Steve Ninvalle, Vice-Chairperson of the National Sports Commission Cristy Campbell, National Footballer Jerome Harrigan and Minister of Housing Collin Croal.

They also joined in the official kickoff of the tournament’s first match.

The Soesdyke Linden Highway based Kuru Kururu suited up against one of the top villages in Agricola as group A play got underway. Teams are battling in a round-robin format with the top two from each of the four groups earning a place in the final eight when the knockout phase will begin.

The highway boys came to the show to make their presence felt on a historic day and wanted to etch their name in the history books. They drew first blood 22 minutes into the opening half when Leroy Evans breached the Agricola defense and goalkeeper, Christopher Adams.

The half ended with Kuru Kururu enjoying a slim lead and Agricola relishing the opportunity of leveling things up and even going ahead. In the 57th minute, Kuru Kururu doubled the advantage with a Kevin Scott strike.

Even though, Agricola halved the advantage when Shemar Sampson found the back of the net in the 61st minute, veteran forward, Marvin ‘Munro’ Joseph rolled back the years when he reestablished their two-goal cushion on the stroke of full time.

Agricola has now found themselves in a must win situation when they come up against Mocha, defeat will see them exiting the competition.

The feature game of the night pitted a young Herstelling side against Lower Soesdyke. It was a very intense encounter as the Lower Soesdyke boys used their height advantage to good effect but Herstelling never back down.

The first 35 minutes did not separate the two villages as though chances were created either side of the pitch. It was the final four-minutes of the clash that saw Herstelling scoring back-to-back goals that sealed full points for them in this Group B clash.

Johenni Mendoza broke the deadlock in the 66th minute and two minutes later, junior national and Elite League player, Malcolm Hendricks knocked the wind of the sail of Nijuan Hooke, caught out of position.

The win for Herstelling has placed then in a good position to earn a quarter-final berth, while Lower Soesdyke will have to win their next clash against Swan if they are to stand a chance of advancing.

On Sunday (March 15), Grove and Circuitville collide in the first game of another double-header, while Timehri and Kaneville clash in the feature contest.

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