By Staff Writer
Togetherness and maturity were the words used by head coach of the St. Kitts and Nevis football team, Anthony Isaac to described his side’s 3-1, friendly international victory on Saturday (Sept. 17), over highly favoured St. Lucia.
Playing at Warner Park, with steady rain fall bearing down and bolts of lightning flashing across the skies, G’Vaune Amory (38th minute) and Tahir Hanley (51st & 83rd minute) set up the easy victory for the home team, in preparation for next month’s Caribbean Football Union (CFU) tournament.
Amory set the tone for what was to come, when he struck a powerful right footed cross from some 10 yards outside of the penalty box to open the scoring – that stunned the visiting team.
With the lightning strikes becoming more frequent and the rains becoming heavier, there was no signs that the match officials would have called the game off – as tempers begun to flare in the second half.
With his side looking to pile on the after, Hanley sent them 2-nil, in the 51st minute, and Noah Nicholas in 63rd minute pulling one back for St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis’ Steve Archibald got into an altercation that saw him stamping his opponent.
The infraction was not seen by the on field referee, but his assistant signaled for the foul at which time he was shown a second yellow card, resulting in the issuing of the red card.
In an interview with The Observer, Isaac said the management team achieved the goals they had set out before the game, noting that they trained hard in order to have the players at the highest standard.
Speaking to the discipline of his team, the Coach disclosed that the team’s technical director would be feverishly looking to work in that area, adding that he expressed his displeasure to know the red card that was issued and also the high number of yellow’s were shown.
“Discipline is one thing that we really need to work on with these youngsters, because we cannot go out to the major tournament and show the same indiscipline,” said Isaac.
The practice game was the last for both teams as they now travel to Curacao where they would be competing in the final round of the CFU tournament, where a berth awaits the top teams in the CONCACAF U20 championship next year.
Additionally, the federations team will have their eyes set on winning that tournament or being among the top qualifiers, as they seek to make the under-20 world cup later in the year.
