Guyana whip Barbados 4-1 in first leg Olympic qualifier By Isaiah Chappelle
Guyana Chronicle
September 8, 2003

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GUYANA whipped Barbados 4-1 in the first leg of the Olympic football qualifying series, to give the National Under-23 a two-goal advantage in the home-and-away tie.

In yesterday’s match at the Blairmont Community Centre ground, Devon Millington, captain Shawn Beveney, Gregory Richardson and Jonathan Peters scored for Guyana while Fabian Forde put in the consolation goal for the visitors.

But technical director Neider Dos Santos warned: “Nothing is decided as yet.”

Although Guyana won the match 4-1, the one goal scored against them is counted as two for Barbados in the goal aggregate calculation, thus Guyana go into the next match with just a two-goal advantage.

Dos Santos said the match was “very tough” but the team showed “maturity” to pull off a spectacular win, after the match was deadlocked 1-1 at one stage, leaving several football buffs scratching their memory when last a National team enjoyed such resounding victory in an international competition.

“It was a very tough match. Although we won the first half 1-0, the wind was against us and it was very hard. We had never played under such intense wind conditions before,” Dos Santos explained.

However, with the wind behind the team as they attacked the southern goal, the second half was much better.

“The maturity of the players must be highlighted. When we conceded the draw early in the second half, they continued playing very focused,” Dos Santos pointed out.

Guyana started attacking the Barbadians from the first run down, forcing the first corner within the first minute of play. However, Guyana enjoyed just four corners in the game, against five in each half for the Barbadians, but they did not make use of the opportunities through the corners, the first coming in five minutes of play.

The first good shot was taken by Peters in the 15th minute, when Emerick Williams, on the left wing, passed the ball to him at centre and he fired from 40 metres out, the ball zooming just over the crossbar.

Then in the 26th minute, Guyana went 1-0 up. Peters at centre, found Richardson at the left, who sent the ball to Millington at the centre further up. The striker gave the defence a shake, raced a little closer to the goal and planted the ball into the net with a right foot shot.

Guyana had two more close chances before halftime, the first coming from a throw-in by Williams from the right sidelines, which found Richardson inside the box, but he failed to shoot. The next one Richardson passed the ball from the left and Beveney hit it high over the crossbar. Another chance went four minutes after the resumption, when Williams found Millington in front of a clear goal, but he shot straight to the advancing goalkeeper.

Then ten minutes into the half, Barbados equalised. Forde latched on to a loose ball, raced through an open defence as Kelvin McKenzie continued to have a bad game, and sent a flat right foot shot to the net without the goalkeeper attempting a save.

Ten minutes later, Jeffrey Williams nearly gave Barbados the advantage, again as the defence lapsed through McKenzie, but the diagonal shot from inside the box at the left, went closely past the last post.

About 15 minutes in, Dos Santos introduced Travis Grant for Williams, and the game changed dramatically, putting Guyana in control of the run of play.

“Grant went into the game very well. He put the ball on the ground. In the first half, we played very high balls which impeded the progress of the team, because we did not play high ball,” Dos Santos explained.

In the 68th minute, Guyana went ahead. A mix-up ensued just outside the box, and Beveney, at left, received a nice short pass. He forced his way closer, gave the defence a shake and slotted in the second goal for Guyana.

Dos Santos replaced Millington with Dwight Peters in the 70th minute and the hosts totally controlled the ground. One minute later, the huge crowd roared with delight as Richardson latched on to a loose ball and with the goalkeeper off his line, he lobbed the ball into the net.

Jonathan Peters sealed the game in the 86th minute, collecting the ball as the defence fumbled and shot on the run to rock the net.

But the referee added more colour to the game, flashing some seven yellow cards and one red. He first enriched Guyana’s yellow gear with four - Waterton in the 22nd minute, Jonathan Peters in the 26th, Orlando Gilgeous in the 45th and Richardson in the 49th. Barbados eventually felt the heat in the 58th minute through Dwayne Griffith, who got another in the 90th and was ejected with the red. John Warde got his in the 60th minute and goalkeeper Jason Boxhill in the 86th.

Dos Santos said: “It is very normal for yellow cards. But Jonathan did not deserve one. The referee was too liberal with the cards. That’s why I did not make use of any more substitution, in case more came, I could inject him.”

Today, the Under-23 boys will have the day off and will return to training tomorrow, Dos Santos disclosed.

“We can’t rest. We have to go right on with training. Nothing is decided yet. We have another match leg in Barbados. They know how we play now. But I’m confident we can win the next round,” Dos Santos said.

Barbadian coach Horace Beckles refused to speak with the media.

The second leg is fixed for October 12 in Barbados.