Good link up play from Troy Cesar and Shamoy Thompson led to the virtually unmarked Jhon Samuel making no mistake with a header from 12 yards out to open the scoring. Photo credit: Charlie Jackson/VINO

In a fitting gesture from the BVIFA, the daughters of Wendol Williams, D’Avian, Nadiege and D’Neigh, were present at the kick off for the first match of the 2012 competition. Photo credit: Charlie Jackson/VINO

It was a give and go wall pass from James Shearman, I took a touch, saw the ‘keeper going one way and hit it the other” said Omari Scott, who is also the BVI’s National Sailing Coach. Photo credit: Charlie Jackson/VINO

In a fitting gesture from the BVIFA, the daughters of Wendol Williams, D’Avian, Nadiege and D’Neigh, were present at the kick off for the first match of the 2012 competition, the Ballstars against VG United and as Wolues captain, James Shearman commented later “this is a massive, massive tournament, and it’s good to have it named in his honour”.

Once play got underway it took just 26 minutes for the 2011 Champions to open the scoring in defense of their title.
With the young VG team struggling to get a foothold in the game and unable to put any pressure on the Ballstars defense they soon found themselves under a wave of attacks by the Champions. Jhon Samuel was a constant threat up front, Troy Cesar was all hustle and bustle in the midfield and both Brad Remy and Shamoy Thompson sliced through the defense from down the left and right respectively.

One such move involving good link up play from Cesar and Thompson led to Cesar hitting a pin point cross to the virtually unmarked Samuel who made no mistake from 12 yards out with a well directed header.
“I just did what I had to do”, commented Samuel.

The lead was doubled nine minutes into the second half when Samuel, again, found himself in the right place at the right time to deflect home for his and the team’s second goal.

“I wasn’t expecting to score at all” said Samuel “I was laughing when it went in”, he added.
The trip to round two was made secure when Cesar rounded off his fine performance by sliding home the third goal in the 56th minute, following a cross from Trevor Jones.

Ballstars Coach Vincent “Nabo” Samuel acknowledged his new look team had avoided a potential banana skin, but was happy with the win “We are the defending champions and we have a lot of work to do. The guys stuck to what we are trying to do and despite being rusty got better in the second half.”

Shearman’s much changed Wolues side then rounded off the day’s action with a fine win against the Haitians, thanks to two first half goals from Omari Scott on debut and Mauriccio Geninazzi.

“It was a give and go wall pass from Shearman, I took a touch, saw the ‘keeper going one way and hit it the other”, said ex Panther Scott, who is also the BVI’s National Sailing Coach.
Geninazzi scored in the 35th minute with a lobbed shot that caught the Haitian keeper off his line and the bouncing ball beat his despairing back pedaling effort to clear his lines.

“Getting through to the next round was very important for us”, said Shearman. “We have been doing a lot of training to blend in the new players and we will only get better.”

The clash between Panthers and Lucian Stars resulted in forfeiture by the Lucians who failed to appear at game time
As the Competition moves into the deeper rounds, one thing the Wolues will have to improve on is their shooting. The second half against the Haitians was one way traffic, but despite a dozen or so clear chances to add to the score line, all were wasted.

However, in their defense, the pitch is in a terrible state, making control, passing and shooting almost a lottery. Maintenance work is due to be carried out on the playing surface but more likely in time for the National League rather than the two Cup Competitions.