BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Sugar Boyz of St. Kitts and Nevis last evening (Jun. 11) came close to an upset of El Salvador at Warner Park with the game ending in a 2-2 draw in a World Cup Qualifier.
In front of a capacity, passionate and noisy crowd at Warner Park, the home side opened the game looking the better of the two sides, but it did not equate to the success the Kittitian/Nevisian fans may have wanted.
The boisterous crowd got even louder when on the 25 minute they thought they had a penalty shout when Adam Newton was brought down.
In the 35th minute El Salvador’s Elvin Perrier capitalised on a mistake by the captain Atiba Harris which led to him taking a simple shot that barley crossed the line as Harris vainly fought to prevent the goal.
The visitor’s goal however silenced the crowd, except for the few El Salvador supporters who had made the trip.
In the second half, St. Kitts and Nevis hit back through a strike by Orlando Mitchum who fired a shot from the right wing beyond the keeper to send the fans into frenzy and sparked the team into a huge celebration.
The home crowd then started cheering and chanted “let's go St. Kitts”, which seemed to inspire the team.
The local ball-weavers displayed some new-found energy and had a brilliant attacking move just four minutes later and found Romaine Sawyers, almost in the same position as Mitcham was, and he wasted no time in putting the ball into the back of the net.
His shot caused an eruption in the stands with individuals unable to contain themselves.
It also caused the entire bench to jump out of their seats and sprint onto the field to congratulate Sawyers.
The Sugar Boyz was then leading 2-nil, but the visitors fought back and gained the equaliser through a free kick, which found an open header that eluded the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Julani Archibald.
After the blowing of the final whistle, captain Harris gave his thoughts on the game and acknowledged his error.
“I thought we played a very good game. We were very organised! We were unfortunate we did not come away with the win. Personally, I made an error in the first half which had us 1-0, but going in at half time we are a family and there was no doubt in my mind or my teammates’ mind that we would not get a result.”
He also spoke about the role the fans played in the game.
“I think the fans came out tonight and really got behind us. We made errors but we are family here in St. Kitts and Nevis. I am just happy everyone came out and supported us, got behind us and kept pushing us on.”
SKN coach Jacques Passy labelled the team’s performance as excellent, but indicated that two errors led to El Salvador scoring those goals.
“I think the performance of the team was excellent but, at the end, I think we committed two mistakes with balls we should not have missed. It’s a 2-2 tie. Overall, I am happy with the performance of the team. We were very organised and I believe we have our chances in El Salvador.”
The second leg will be played in El Salvador on Tuesday evening (Jun. 16).
