Guyana make victory slip away in 1-1 draw with T&T From Isaiah Chappelle in Bermuda
Guyana Chronicle
November 1, 2002

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GUYANA made victory slip away and Trinidad & Tobago secured a lucky draw in the opening match of the Caribbean group qualifying series of the Under-17 World Cup football championships at the National Sports Centre, Bermuda, Wednesday.

Today Guyana meet Bermuda today. Bermuda hammered St Lucia 5-0 with three first half goals and two in the second half.

Dwight Peters gave Guyana the advantage early in the game but Gorean Highley produced the lucky equaliser before halftime.

Technical Director Neider Dos Santos told Chronicle Sport: "I think we dominated the first half until Trinidad & Tobago scored. Only one team was playing - we. After that we dropped down. At the end of the match, Trinidad & Tobago had some control, but not consistent. From the middle of the second half, they got control but Guyana had clear opportunties to score, at least four. The draw was very good for Trinidad & Tobago but not good for Guyana. One team that deserved to win was Guyana."

General Secretary of the Bermuda Football Association, David Saber, told Chronicle Sport: "Your boys allowed the match to slip away. They played the better game."

Trinidad & Tobago's coach saw the game differently, blaming his team’s not winning to wasted opportunities.

"In the first 20 minutes, they started out shakily. Then we started to play our type of game - possession. Our performance was very high," the coach said.

Within the first minute, Guyana went close to scoring. The team attacked down the centre and Konata Mannings received the ball at the right edge of the box, reached inside and offered a diagonal shot, but the ball went straight to the goalkeeper who blocked.

Then in the eighth minute, Mannings at centre, found Shevane Seaforth at left. He evaded the defence and passed to Peters who rocked the northern net with a superb right foot shot from inside the box.

Peters again went close in the 15th minute when he collected the ball. He raced past the one defence, beat another, and shot diagonally from the right of the box, the ball passing centimetres from the last post.

Then in a moment of complacency, the unmarked Highley latched onto the ball in front of Colin Clarke and shot instantly from the left edge of the box.

Goalkeeper Fidel Smith prepared to intercept, but misjudged the speed of the new ball on the low damp grass, which passed before he dived for the save. That equaliser came in the 24th minute.

Six minutes later, Seaforth received a cross after a throw in, and about a metre away from the left post, missed the goal. Again in the 40th minute, Mannings crossed beautifully to climax a raid on the right wing, but again Seaforth in front of a clear goal, missed.

In the counter-attack, Highley broke away past the lone defence, but goalkeeper Smith advanced authoritatively to intercept at the top of the box and the lobbed ball went over the goal.

Another chance came about three minutes from halftime. Peters drew the defence to the left inside the box, crossed, but Mannings in front of a clear goal fumbled and messed the opportunity.

In the second half, Trinidad & Tobago were the first to introduce fresh legs, just at the resumption and about 22 minutes in. Guyana substituted winger Daniel Favourite with Philbert Moffat, three minutes later.

Trinidad & Tobago had possession but mostly in their half. Guyana were guilty of bad passes from the centre and the defence on the right wing lapsed to give the opponents inroad.

Guyana's last good chance came about 20 minutes into the half. Wingback Devon Cormack received the ball from midfielder Leon Grumble at centre, raced down the right wing, crossed to Peters who did not find his foot.

In the second match, St Lucia played the offside trap and were caught themselves as Bermuda blasted the net three times. The bench had no advice for the hapless boys from Piton land.

But about 20 minutes into the game, the two Bermudan strikers were clearly spent. And in the second half, the coaches utilised the three changes.

St Lucia's defence abandoned the high game defence line, but were further handicapped when the captain was sent off after attracting his second bookable offence.

Coach Ron Thompson acknowledged that the team now have two more difficult matches up ahead. They play Guyana in the second game at 20:45 hrs, while Trinidad & Tobago take on St Lucia in the first match at 18:30 hrs.