Goals galore!

A goal by senior national striker Armando ‘Suga’ Lashley on the stroke of regular time allowed Paradise Football Club to worm themselves out of a deadlock and emerge victorious 4-3 against Youth Milan in the Capelli Sport Super Cup last night.

Paradise now move top of Group B with six points having played two games undefeated. The men from Dover thrashed Fitts Village 8-1 last Sunday and secured a hard-fought victory against Youth Milan last night at the Barbados Football Association’s Wildey St. Michael AstroTurf.

Captain Barry Skeete opened Paradise’s account with a goal in the tenth minute and Chai Lloyd followed up with another in the 40th. But Youth Milan came storming back on each occasion with a goal each by Daquan Gibbons and Ramon Griffith in the 26th and 45+1 minutes to equalise 2-2 at halftime.

Youth Milan, second in the Group B standings on three points, were first to break the deadlock through Jaleel Corbin with an excellent placement in the 53rd minute and Paradise custodian Jason Boxill out of position.

However, with a goal badly needed by Paradise, Dario ‘Ears’ Harewood came on as a substitute and within a matter of seconds delivered the equaliser for his team in the 85th minute. Harewood finished off an Ackeel Applewaithe pass that was squared from the far right closest to the Kent/Upton end.

Paradise were slack in their approach and ended up giving away possession unnecessarily on a few occasions. But as a premier league team, they showed maturity when it mattered most and delivered that all-important match-winning goal.

A short pass taken off a free-kick fed by Mario ‘Bagga’ Williams made its way to national teammate Armando ‘Suga’ Lashley for a brilliant strike in the 90th minute past Youth Milan’s entire defence and their goalkeeper Ivan Griffith.

Youth Milan played commendably despite the loss and had Paradise’s defenders Ramon Manning and Rommell Burgess along with central defenders Barry Skeete and Zeco Phillips under pressure at times.

In the other Group B encounter played last night, The Eric Alleyne-coached Wotton Football Club picked up their first win from two games with an 8-1 shellacking of Fitts Village.

Striker Khalil Gill registered two goals in the ninth and 51st minutes, while Keon Atkins made his contribution in the 49th and 90th as both players just missed out on a hattrick for Wotton.

Captain Reco Baptiste, Aqiyl Cumberbatch and Ricardo Carter had a goal each in the 28th, 41st and 46th minutes respectively. Fitts Village’s lone goal came through Javier Nedd in the 74th minute, but by that stage the damage had long been done.

The newly-promoted Wotton side were first to celebrate a goal when a skied ball found striker Khalil Gill inside the 18-yard box and with exceptional control he finished past Fitts Village goalkeeper Kyle Smith who was slightly off his mark.

Fitts Village afforded Wotton too much time on the ball, and it showed as the men from Christ Church had ample opportunity to push forward and create goal-scoring opportunities. The threats created by Wotton forced goalkeeper Smith to leave his mark and make a few forceful challenges after his defenders failed to cover.

Fitts Village were caught napping at the back, and Wotton made them pay, this time through captain Baptiste with a brilliant effort to outpace his marker and delivere an easy goal past goalkeeper Smith.

Ironically, goal number three was similar to the previous goal when Aqiyl Cumberbatch in the 41st minute took on Fitts Village’s one-man defence and unleashed a low strike past Smith who did not have the best of nights defending the uprights.

Fitts Village’s coach Llewyn Broomes decided to replace Smith with Ishawn Babb at the start of the second half. But it was a decision that did not make much of a difference as both goalkeepers suffered, especially substitute Babb who had five goals put past him in that decisive half.

That 3-0 advantage at halftime came as no surprise because Fitts Village looked out of sorts and struggled to string together precise passes which they needed to do for a chance at goal. But instead Wotton continued from where they left off and a minute into the second half they produced another goal when Baptiste played an excellent ball to Ricardo Carter for a superb finish.

From there on the goals kept rolling in and Fitts Village appeared clueless as to how to stop Wotton at the back as goal number five came off a corner and ended up back of the nets off the forehead of Keon Atkins. Wotton played a lot more physically, and Fitts Village failed to match that which cost them in the end.

Youth Milan and Wotton are both tied on three-points each and may have a chance of advancing through to the next round, providing they win their third and final match, and hope table leaders Paradise lose to Wotton in their upcoming encounter.  Youth Milan and a winless Fitts Village will also meet in the upcoming matchups for this group as well.

When the night concluded a total of 84 goals had been scored in the competition so far.

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb