Frontline win inaugural City 7’s football crown

With fireworks scheduled to take place at the Queen’s Park Savannah, fireworks were also anticipated on the field as the tournament’s top two goalscorers came up against each other.

The Frontline team and supporters draped in their canary yellow uniform stood out amongst those gathered, with their yellow flag flying in the night’s sky. Ranga in black, having the more boisterous supporters, set up the evening for a great competitive football matchup.

Frontline, from the first whistle, were the more dominant team as they were able to string more decisive passes together which, on many occasions, split the Ranga defence. The scoring prowess of Makesi ‘Bird” Lewis continued when he put his team into the lead and equalled the tournament’s highest goal scorer tally with 10 goals. A weak back pass by a Frontline defender forced the goalkeeper to race off his line to make an interception outside his penalty area.

Hee did so, but cleared it onto the left foot of the onrushing Ranga midfielder Tyrone Charles who graciously slotted home the equaliser, just inside the half line.

It was in the second half where fitness, mental concentration and visible fatigue started to set in for players on the both teams. Maximising on the rule of unlimited substitutions, both teams continuously made changes to save the legs and energy of their players.

But it was another lapse in concentration by the Ranga defence which awarded Frontline another go-ahead goal. The open spaces at the back allowed a Frontline midfielder a bit too much room, as he utilised the space to pull away a quick low shot towards goal.

Though it was goal-bound, Elijah Belgrave was at the back post to ensure that it was safely in the net when he side-footed it in.

When Lewis scored in the 42th minute to put Frontline 3-1 up, they went into cruise control with spectators already anticipating victory as they started celebrating on the sidelines and cheering on the players.

When Mejias scored in the 48th minute for Ranga to cut the lead to 3-2, it created a nervy ending but unfortunately it came only as a consolation for Ranga and their supporters because the fightback came a little too late.

When the $50,000 cheque was handed over to Frontline’s manager Cleavon Mc Sween, it was pandemonium at the venue as confetti filled the park and fireworks were heard and seen in the nearby Savannah.

Speaking after the victory, Mc Sween stated that “the team basically comprises of friends who played against and together with each other throughout the years, so therefore the transition on the field is really a transfer of chemistry.” He went on further to say, “defence brings your team the victory, so his team was built from the back first.” The dominance of the Frontline team in the tournament was evident in the prizegiving ceremony held for stand-out individual players, with the Frontline players winning ‘Best Goalkeeper’, ‘MVP’ and ‘Most Goals’ trophies.

Goalkeeper Teon Brown, who won the Best Goalkeeper award after he conceded the least amount of goals for the entire tournament, as well as having the most clean sheets, attributed his dominance to his “team’s overall performance and structure.” His sentiments were echoed by leading goalscorer’ Lewis who both acknowledged that though Ranga gave them a challenge in the final, it was team “Mango Rose” who posed the “greatest opposition in the competition because they were the only team to score on them first, forcing them to come from behind to seal victory.”