MATCHES continued last evening at the Marchand Grounds in the inaugural Island Cup as Vieux Fort South took on Gros Islet at 6.00 p.m, and Mon Repos played home team Marchand at 8.00 p.m. while Mabouya Valley got a bye to the next round of the knockout phase.
The draw for last evening’s double header took place at the Saint Lucia Football Association Northern Technical Summit held on Saturday 7th July 2018 at the Financial Centre, Ministry of Finance in Pointe Seraphine.
On Saturday evening, despite the inclement weather, there were wins for Gros Islet and Marchand also in the knockout phase of the tournament.
With the rain playing a cat and mouse game during the first encounter between Canaries and Gros-Islet the latter nosed ahead through a header from Aramis Gilbert in the 41st minute of play only to enjoy the halftime advantage 1-0.
On the resumption, both teams upped the tempo just a notch, Canaries drawing level in the 67th minute through Donavan Jn Baptiste.
Gros Islet took the lead for the second time in the encounter, as Nicholas Lawrence’s wonderful header in the 76th minute eluded the Canaries goalkeeper Quami Jones to his right.
With the score line 2-1 in favour of Gros Islet, Canaries mounted several attacks as they gave it their all in the latter part of the half in search for the equaliser, but the Gros Islet defence stood tall.
The boys from the north further extended their lead as the Canaries defence was caught flat footed, allowing striker Troy Greenidge to tap home his easiest scoring opportunity in his football career in the 84th minute to put the issue beyond doubt.
Final score 3-1.
Interestingly, on the pitch, former Canaries defender Bradley Tisson was in Gros Islet colours in the defence as he kept his community team strikers at bay.
In the second encounter on the evening despite the rain, the Marchand football fans came out to lend support to their community team against a youthful South Castries.
The host defeated SC 5-1 with goals from Valdez Maximin in the 8th minute; Andrus Remy double strikes in the 42th and 69th minute and the experience Lincoln Phillip, coming off the bench as a substitute, in the 54th minute went on to score in the 74th and 90+2 minutes of play.
South Castries equalized as Travis Valcin found the back of the nets in the 23rd minute of play.