BVI regrouping for Trinidad following 4-0 loss

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

 After being shut out 4-0 at home, while losing their goal keeper to a red card in the process, the BVIs Nature Boyz will face the rhythms of Trinidad’s Soca Warriors on Sunday in the away leg of their Digicel Caribbean Cup series.

The Soca Warriors didn’t need the steel pan to get in a groove. Backed by a slow hypnotic drum beat and rhythmic chant of their legion with: “We want ah goal, more goals,” after Nigel Pierre scored from a free kick eight minutes into the game, the Trinis had to wait 58 painful minutes to rev up the chorus line to fever pitch levels, as the nature Boyz held their own for a 1-0 halftime deficit.

“I thought the BVI gave a good performance. It was unfortunate they lost their goal keeper. On the other hand, we didn’t play all the best, but we got the result we wanted,” Soca Warriors coach Bertille St. Clair said, noting his guys were complaining about the conditions at the A. O. Shirley Recreation Grounds. “I explained to them that football is a level playing field and the guys have to play on it too, so you can’t come and complain,” he added.

After Trinidad scored, the BVI had their best three first half chances at goal between the 24th and 30th minute of play, but all their shots went wide of the goal. The Soca Warriors launched a series of counter attacks, the last coming in the 44th minute, but was unable to score on a series of good saves by BVI goalie Monty Butler, and settled for a 1-0 halftime lead.

Early in the second half, Butler was given a red card and ejected from the game, leaving the BVI with 10 men and substitute goalie Maxford Pipe in the nets. Pipe began his tenure by making two great saves. On his third attempt, Pipe jumped and blocked the ball in the air, but on the rebound Pierre ended a 58 minute scoring lapse by igniting three second half goals when he scored in the 66th minute for a 2-0 lead. The BVI missed its best chance to score in the 70th minute, when Trinidad’s goal keeper Jan Michael Williams dived to his right to save the goal. Five minutes later, Kewin Jernmott beat the BVI’s defense, placing the ball to the right of Pipe for a 3-0 lead. Silva Spann scored the final goal in the 90th minute on a right footer just to the right of the 18 yard box. Ten minutes before the last goal, the Trinis had a fine attempt that ricocheted off the left crossbar.

“We were still in the game, even though they gave away a silly free kick. They didn’t defend it very well as the wall broke down and they lost their concentration,” BVI Technical Director Ben Davies said in his assessment of the match, noting that the team was still in the game even after halftime. “There was not much difference between the two teams,” Davies noted. “But, our goalkeeper got sent off and you’re down to 10 men. The magnitude of the sending off was big, because Monty Butler is one of the outstanding players in the BVI and has been for years. To loose him at a crucial point in the game was massive. It’s hard enough playing against Trinidad when you have 11 men, but when you have 10 men, it’s even tougher.”

At halftime, Davies said he told his players to play as they did in the first half—a 20 minute period when they controlled the ball. However, he was dissatisfied with some players in their positioning when they didn’t have the ball. “Our midfield players have to tighten up and get back behind the ball in the second half and that was our game plan,” Davies noted. “That was the plan for periods in the first half that worked because for 20 minutes before halftime, we had possession. We had our chances.”

St. Clair said his goal coming in was to look at several players making the World Cup team and did not bring any overseas based players. “We came into this game for a victory because you must win this game to continue for the championship. It didn’t matter whether we scored one, two or three goals,” St. Clair explained. “My aim is the World Cup. We want to qualify and go to Germany. That is the main aim. It’s a challenge but no team is unbeatable. If you look at what happened in the European Championships with Greece, they were a non entity. We can’t jump and say ‘Mexico is unbeatable. America is unbeatable. That’s rubbish.’ When you get on the field, it’s a level playing field. Who make their chances will always win it.”

Davies said its always great experience to play the top teams in the Caribbean as you get to know other team’s strengths and their performances. “You can only get better,” Davies stated. “If we were to play Trinidad four or five time a year, we obviously would be much closer to them. We were very close to them today until the sending off (of our goal keeper). Decisions change games. That’s the way football is. We just have to regroup now and try to build on what we were doing in the first half, for the second game in Trinidad.”