Corona Invitational Football…Unbeaten Tigers and Rangers advance to semifinals

Sep 03, 2017 Sports, https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...vance-to-semifinals/

On Friday night at the Georgetown Football Club ground, fans witnessed the dominant and undefeated Western Tigers dismantle the youthful Pele FC 6-0 while Northern Rangers who are also unbeaten edged Camptown 4-3 on sudden death kicks from the penalty mark.
Perennial favourites, Western Tigers, entertained fans in the feature game of the night by comfortably ousting Pele led by a brace from Darren Benjamin who netted either side of play, 32nd and 72nd minute.
Pele would’ve been intimidated by the opposition pre-game and were definitely demoralized early in the match as Dellon Kells put the “Vicious” Tigers ahead after just 9 minutes. Jamal Pedro doubled their lead in the 30th minute before Benjamin’s first goal two minutes later took the tally to a comfortable 3-0 in the first half.
The Tigers continued to roar from the start of the second half with constant raids of Pele’s defense. Pele couldn’t cope with the organisation of Tigers’ 3-4-3 setup as they let in three more unanswered goals in that period of play; Jarel Tyrell (55) and Mark Gittens (75) added their names to the score sheet while Darren Benjamin completed his double in the 72nd minute.
The young Pele side couldn’t respond with any goals of their own as they found it tough getting in behind the aggressive Tigers back line. The initial match of the evening, the opening quarterfinal between surprise top performers Northern Rangers and Camptown, was decided on sudden death kicks from the penalty mark after a 1-1 score line after full and extra time.
Rangers’ target man Sunil Logan continued his goal scoring form with a calm finish to the left of Camptown’s goalkeeper Richie Richards inside the box. Logan completed the poacher’s goal in the 19th minute after capably controlling a lofted pass staving off pressure from two of Camptown’s defenders.
Before the end of the first half, Camptown equalised after they were awarded a penalty from a handball by one of Rangers’ defenders. Camptown’s goalkeeper, Richie Richards stepped up to the plate and calmly converted the spot kick to the bottom right of the goal to level the match.
It was Camptown which missed their first sudden death penalty attempt that gifted Rangers their semi-final berth as their dream run continued.
The final two quarterfinal matches will be played this evening at same venue from 19:00hrs when Santos opposes Police with feature play between home side GFC and Riddim Squad. (Calvin Chapman)