Thrilling action on day one of Beach Futbol

THE EXCITEMENT OF having a full day of football on the sand - The Red Stripe Light, Beach Futbol Competition, got off to an incredible start yesterday at Hellshire Beach and saw defending champions Portmore United, St. Georges FC, Arnett Gardens, Harbour View, Village United and Constant Spring all recording wins.

In THE STAR'S feature game, the third of the day, Arnett Gardens defeated newly promoted Premier League team, Naggo Head FC 3-1.

Both teams started the game somewhat tentatively resulting in the first of three 12-minute periods ending goalless. The second period commenced with Naggo Head looking the more likely to score but their threatening shots were denied by the veteran goalie, Julian McLeish in the Arnett goal.

The deadlock was broken in the 21st minute when Decoy Williams struck a low drive past Kelvin Brown in the Naggo Head goal. The lead lasted just two minutes as Xavier Watt equalised from a free-kick in the 23rd minute making the score 1-1 at the end of the second period.

GREATER EXPERIENCE

Arnett's greater experience on sand paid off in the third period as Adrian Foster scored in the 30th and 32nd minutes at a time the legs of the Naggo Head players seemed to have given way.

Portmore United, playing the day's opener at 11:00 a.m. outscored Premier League champions Waterhouse 4-3 thanks to a late 35th minute strike by Ryan Powell. United's other goals came from Recardo Cousins who scored in the 16th and 30th minutes and Sheldon Palmer who scored in the 25th. Kirk Ramsey scored the first two of Waterhouse's three goals while Kirk Fletcher scored the third in minute 31.

Game two between two of the competition's local invitees, St. George's and Maverley Hughenden provided the day's greatest margin as Portland's St. Georges trounced the Molynes Road based team 7-3. Damion Harwood struck six of St. Georges' seven goals making him the leading scorer after day one of the tournament. The team's other goal came from Dwayne Holmes, while Philip Peddie got a hat-trick for Maverley. In the day's other games Harbour View got by Tivoli Gardens 1-0 in sudden-death penalties after their game ended 5-5 following normal and over time. Village United outscored Seba 5-4 while the relegated Constant Spring whipped another invitee, Humble Lions of Clarendon 8-4.

FABULOUS DAY

Kerry-Ann McKenzie, project manager for the competition said it was a fabulous day for football.

"The first day was a good day. We had fabulous football in terms of just the teams coming out with some wonderful goals. The entertainment value was very high, and the crowd really enjoyed it so we are looking forward to better weeks to come," she said.

The competition continues next Sunday with six matches at the same venue.