BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Sugar Boyz open their World Cup Qualifying Campaign with a 6-2 demolition of the Turks and Caicos Islands at Warner Park last evening (Mar. 23) despite having to play with only 10 men for more than 60 minutes.
From the kickoff the home team looked to stamp its authority in the fixture and dominated the early proceedings, and was rewarded with a penalty in the 12th minute. The penalty chance was however missed by Zephaniah Thomas whose strike slammed into the crossbar to the dismay of the few thousand spectators at the Warner Park facility.
The passionate crowd was however rewarded in the 18th minute when captain Atiba Harris found himself open on the right side of the Turks and Caicos penalty area and placed his shot in the bottom left corner.
His efforts were however cancelled out four minutes later when Billy Forbes got passed the leaping Julani Archibald to equalise the game for the away side to the displeasure of the home supporters.
The crowd at Warner Park became despondent in the 27th minute when Mudassa Howe was red carded in what many deemed to be a soft foul and heavily scrutinised the referee for his decision.
The home side however regrouped and retook the lead in the 43rd minute through a close range shot by Thrizen Leader. The lead was then increased before half time when Orlando Mitchum scored a rebound following a brilliant save by the Turks and Caicos goalkeeper who could not recover in time to stop the follow-up shot.
Tishan Hanley then added the fourth goal with a weak shot that beat the keeper low down to his right in the 68th minute.
The away side, despite looking shaky in defence, were astute in attack and added a second goal when they forced Thrizen Leader in scoring an own goal in the 73rd minute.
The Sugar Boyz however added two more goals through Errol O'Loughlin in the 85th minute and Orlando Mitchum in the final minute of regulation time.
The home supporters however were not fully pleased with the team’s overall performance as they thought the players could had scored more goals and the two that were conceded could have been avoided.
They were also very critical of some of the referee’s decisions; one being the denial of a goal by Harry Panayiotou for off side.
Both teams will travel to the Turks and Caicos for the return leg later this week.
