Wales sent home from Stag Beer Cup

After an undefeated run for the 2018 Barbados Football Association’s Domestic Season, Weymouth Wales seem to have finally run out of steam as they were denied a chance to defend their 2017 title in the Stag Beer Champions Cup.

Going up against Paradise FC on Saturday night at the Wildey Turf, the knockout favourites had their dreams dashed as the Christ Church boys pulled out the 1-0 win in an extra-time thriller.

Playing in the night-cap game, both teams traded punches throughout the initial 90 minutes with none landing. With both sides usually playing exciting brands of football in their own right, the exchanges looked uninspired despite tensions running high for most of the match-up.

As both teams remained goalless at the end of regulation time, the encounter was forced to extra time. It was here that Paradise exacted their revenge after being beaten by Wales in last year’s final. Defensive midfielder and national team player Mario Williams found himself on the other end of a solid pass to put away a beauty in the 105th minute against an outstretched Omari Eastmond, who had an otherwise solid season.

The other spot in the final went the to Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme who also took their game to extra-time as Brittons Hill United refused to make it easy for them. Similar to the other match-up, the score remained 0-0 at the end of the first half as both teams threw everything they had at each other.

Also a very physical game as a $20 000 top prize is at stake, the Sports Programme drew first blood at the top of the second half. With Kyle Gibson coming into the game for Darico King on resumption, the switch paid dividends as Gibson had Shaquille Frank’s nets rocking within a minute of being on the pitch (47th).

Brittons Hill would strike back in the 72nd with a goal from an unlikely place as central defender Omar Archer blasted the ball past Kishmar Primus to draw things level. Now with a game on and everything to play for, both teams let it all hang out as they fought for a goal in the dying minutes of the game.

With nothing coming for either side, Referee Norman Greaves signalled for extra-time. The first half gave neither team anything to shout about, but in the second, Raheim Sargeant, another national player, put home the ball in the 113th minute to douse any hopes that Brittons Hill had of advancing to the final.

The final is slated for Emancipation Day, August 1st at 8 p.m. at the Wildey Turf and will be preceded by a celebrity game at 6 p.m.