Honours Even After Four-Goal Thriller Against Spartans
Following the conclusion of the international break, it was back to league action on Friday the 13th of June for the lads when we took on Spartans FC. With a 4th place finish already guaranteed this game was all about trying to build momentum for the forthcoming Super 4’s series and the knockout cup. Whilst we couldn’t quite achieve all three points, we took part in what was a very entertaining game where we took an early lead and then had to show our battling qualities to get back into the game after falling behind!
We made the perfect start to the game when in the 4th minute Jaiden Fleming was fouled 25 yards out from goal. Jordan Deans stepped up to take the free-kick and expertly floated the ball over the wall and into the net! Not the first time this season that Jordan’s wand of a left foot has worked its magic!
After taking an early lead, we kept putting pressure on our opponents and we almost doubled our lead in the 6th minute when a defence splitting pass from Asharn Hodge found Kemari Gumbs who shot narrowly over the bar. Two minutes later, our opponents put together a good passing move which ended with them shooting over the bar. It must be said that this was a great opening to the game from both sides!
Spartans got back on level terms in the 18th minute through a very good individual goal from Kevin Paul. Paul ran from the halfway line, beat Delani Francis and Joel Orosco before slipping the ball past our goalkeeper Shemor Browne. Sometimes in football, you just have to say well done, and this was one of those occasions!
A quiet period of play followed the Spartans equaliser with the next action coming when Jordan found Kemari Gumbs with a good pass, Kemari took a touch and shot at goal which produced a good save by the Spartans goalkeeper. A few minutes later, Jaiden tried his luck from range which again produced a good save by the Spartans custodian. In what was a good passage of play for us, for the third time in quick succession, the Spartans goalkeeper was again called into action, this time to deny Kemari from close range!
Despite our superiority in terms of possession and chances, in the 37th minute, Spartans showed that they were still a danger when a shot from distance sailed narrowly over our bar.
On the stroke of half-time, a great cross from Jordan was met by a bullet of a header from Jaiden which was denied by yet another great save from the Spartans goalkeeper. If it wasn’t for him, we would surely have had a comfortable lead by now!
The Second half started with Spartans on the front foot, and we had Shemor Browne to thank for keeping the scores level when he denied our opponents with a great save. In the 50th minute, Jordan produced an excellent long range shot which went just over the bar, had it gone in it would have surely been a contender for goal of the season! Ten minutes later, Kemari also produced a long range shot which this time went straight at the goalkeeper.
In the 67th minute, it was Spartans turn to have a shot from long range which came from the boot of Kevin Paul whose shot came back off the post and was cleared from danger by Nathaniel Gumbs. Two minutes later, Spartans took the lead with a great passing move which started deep in their own half and ended with a finish from Kaeron Herbert. We now had to roll our sleeves up to get back into the game, which we did in the 75th minute courtesy of a goal from substitute Denny Derrick who found the net moments after coming onto the field of play when he converted the rebound after a Javis Jones free kick was initially saved.
Both teams had good passages of possession following our equaliser without creating any clear-cut chances. However, in the first minute of injury time we went agonisingly close to a winner when Javis’s low shot from the edge of the box trickled past the post!
Five minutes later, the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of an excellent game of football!
Uprising Line Up:
18) Shemor Browne, 2) Joel Orosco, 3) Asharn Hodge, 7) Delani Francis, 11) Nathaniel Gumbs, 4) Jaiden Fleming, 5) Tre Gumbs, 14) Jordan Deans,
16) Kemari Gumbs, 24) Javis Jones (C), 13) Zion Sylvester
Subs: 15) Javan Troin, 17) Rachad Thomas, 6) Denny Derrick, 8) Matthew Brown, 27) Adrian Smith