A decent crowd for this early in the season, perhaps close to five hundred, turned out at the MCC Grounds in Belize City yesterday to see home standing F.C. Belize come away with a hard fought 1-nil win over visiting and former league leading Griga United.
It was supposed to be a doubleheader affair at the MCC, but unfortunately, the Inter-district preliminary flopped, as L.A. Boys from Orange Walk failed to make their appearance for a 2:00 p.m. scheduled match against Belize Rising Stars from the Belize District.
Griga United dominated much of the first half, with the brightest spot for F.C. Belize being the exciting play of their U-17 rookie striker Gilroy “Bredda” Thurton who hit the Griga goal post with a left-foot shot from just inside the eighteen early in the first half.
Things looked really bad for F.C. Belize just a couple minutes into the second half, when midfielder Brian Martinez was red-carded after taking down Griga captain Dennis Serano. But some late second half attacking thrusts by Nigerian Kristian Okonkwo paid off, as his pass across goal from the right side line found Jeromy “Jarro” James coming in for the easy slap in past Elias Pelayo in goal for Griga. And it could have been 2-nil F.C. Belize, despite the one-man shortage, as Jarro had an earlier breakaway all alone against Pelayo, but elected to make a late pass to teammate Jarret Davis who was by then clearly in an offside position. But the situation was not as clear on the other end shorthly after, when Deon Burgess split the F.C. Belize defence down the middle with a pass, finding Griga’s Kareem Haylock streaking in from the left, and he blasted it past a bewildered Elden Linares in goal for F.C.; but the linesman waved it offside, a call much more disputed than the previous one at the other end. It was a great victory for F.C. Belize, being a man down for almost half the game; and a burning loss for Griga United, who will no doubt be looking forward to their November 19th weekend re-match in Griga.
Meanwhile, out at the Ambergris Stadium, visiting Toledo Ambassadors were convincing 3-0 winners over home squad San Pedro Sea Dogs. Ambassadors’ goals were by Andres Makin, Jr. (12 min), Ralph Flores (81 min) and Bernard Linarez (87 min).
And in the other Sunday game, out at the People’s Stadium in Orange Walk, all goals came in the first half, as San Felipe Barcelona defeated the visiting Hankook Verdes, 2-1. Deris Benavides opened the scoring for San Felipe at the 6th minute, but Jose Monroy quickly equalized for Verdes at the 7th minute. Harvey Cruz got what turned to be the game winner for San Felipe at the 44th minute for the 2-1 final score.
The only Saturday night game was at the Isidoro Beaton Stadium in Belmopan, where home standing Belmopan Blaze, with a late goal from Christopher Hendricks, pulled out a 1-1 draw against defending back-to-back champion Belize Defence Force. After a scoreless first half, Denmark Casey put BDF in front at the 56th minute, but Hendricks struck at the 88th to make it a 1-1 ball game.
Weekend schedule Round 5:
Saturday, October 9
8:00 p.m. – Hankook Verdes vs Griga United – Marshalleck Stadium
Sunday, October 10
3:00 p.m. – San Pedro Sea Dogs vs Belmopan Blaze – Ambergris Stadium
4:00 p.m. – San Felipe Barcelona vs F.C. Belize – People’s Stadium
4:00 p.m. – Belize Defence Force vs Toledo Ambassadors – Norman Broaster Stadium