It was not semipro rookie Delroy “Tin Man” Andrews’ night on Saturday, November 10, at the MCC, but his Forever Strong frontline partner, Raymond “Killa” Gentle, whose silky smooth demeanor is not to be confused with his formidable striking skills, was only too willing to pick up the slack with three goals, including two expertly placed penalties, on the way to a 5-nil shelling of Roots F.C..
Though already a couple years past thirty, Gentle is also a rookie in semipro football, having languished some years in the amateurs, and then a long layoff due to injury, to be finally “discovered” and “brought out” by veteran player/coach Norman “Tilliman” Nunez.
The much anticipated clash of Belize District teams Forever Strong Kraal Road and Roots F.C. turned out to be somewhat of a mismatch, as Roots’ inexperienced midfield was exposed by the poise and finesse of veterans Norman “Tilliman” Nunez and Edon “Yellow Man” Rowley, who has shed some pounds and is approaching the form he displayed a few years ago on Belize’s national U-20 team. Roots were indeed taken apart, and the score could have been more, but for a number of squandered opportunities by Forever Strong’s over-eager strikers.
It was only 8 minutes into the match, when a shot by Forever Strong’s Delroy “Tin Man” Andrews was too hot for Roots’ goalie to handle, and right midfielder Leon “Lem” Jones slammed in the rebound for the first goal of the game. Tin Man apparently was going to make good on a run through play at the 27th minute, but was taken down for the penalty. “Killa” Gentle converted to make it 2-nil.
15 minutes into the 2nd half, Tilliman intercepted a Roots outlet pass at the top of the eighteen and unleashed a right foot waist high bomb into the right corner to make it 3-nil. Three minutes later Lem was pulled down while driving towards goal on the right side, resulting in another penalty as well as the ejection of Roots’ left defender, Tyrone Linares. Again, calm and cool, Killa put it low and mean in the left corner, out of reach of the diving Roots goalie; 4-nil Forever Strong. And again Tin Man was to be denied, as ten minutes later, at the 75th, his right foot shot from the right side rebounded off the goalie to the left side, only to be then driven in with a left foot to the right side of the net by an alert Killa to complete his hat trick, and the 5-nil win.