Sunset upsets Elite for 2nd win of season

By Cayman Sports Buzz
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Updated: 21 November 2016

Sunset FC secured their second win of the 2016-17 Cayman Premier League season in a six-goal thriller at Ed Bush Sports Complex Sunday (November 20), easing past Elite 4-2.

There may have been a chill in the air, but on the pitch temperatures reached boiling point in this tetchy affair between Elite, who came in atop the table and Sunset, who entered a point from the bottom. There was even a mass melee mid-way through the second half following a goal mouth scramble in the Sunset box.

Both teams were lucky to finish the match with eleven men a piece, none more so than Sunset, who’s imposing centre half John Bruton should have seen red for a blatant push in the back of an Elite striker as he bore down on goal.

The match started at a frantic pace, with Sunset adopting the gegenpressing style that has proved so successful for Liverpool in the English Premier League this season.

Their front three of Thomas Chipchase, James Smith, and Casey Berlin, harried, harassed and hounded Elite who were clearly unnerved by the opening pressure.

And it paid off on seven minutes. They say football is a simple game really, and that point was proved when a long throw into the Elite box was flicked on by the heel of Peter Boda past Danner Taylor in the Elite goal to open the scoring.

Sunset kept up the pressure as they searched for a second. Smith rattled the bar from 29 yards via the fingertips of Taylor, who was by far the busier of the two keepers during the opening exchanges.

But just after the half hour mark, a schoolboy error at the back allowed Elite to take a short corner which led to an equaliser from Jason Ebanks, tapping in from close range. Sunset’s defenders looked for an offside flag which was never raised, and the goal stood.

The match wasn’t level for long. Within a few minutes, Sunset regained their lead as Smith fired into the roof of the net for the aging forward’s first goal of the season.

After the break Elite rallied and piled on the pressure, but did little to test Lee Parry who stood resolute between Sunset’s sticks.

At the other end, neat work between the Sunset front three saw Berlin fire home to make it 3-1 in the 56th. Berlin, sporting a man-bun a la Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino, justified the look with a finish akin to the Brazilian star.

Elite came right back, and reduced the deficit to one, a minute later when Dwayne Wright hit home after fine work on the edge of the box.

As the clock ticked, the team in blue looked for a leveller. Miguel Simms forced Parry into making a fine stop and the league’s leading scorer, Raul Rodriguez, should have done better with the chances he had.

When the fourth official indicated five minutes of injury time left, you sensed there was still another goal in the air. It came in the 92^nd minute, and sadly for Elite from the boot of Sunset substitute Darien Montague, who’s blistering 25-yard shot was by far the goal of the game to seal it at 4-2 in favour of Sunset.