Warriors shut out Panama 2-0 in W/Cup

And success at the Hasely Crawford Sta-dium, Mucurapo, saw the TT lads earn their first victory on their trail to World Cup Germany 2006, following on the heels of two defeats and a drawn result. The Central Americans put the hosts under pressure with a number of build-ups in the midfield area, but could produce little in attack while, on the opposite side of the coin, Trinidad and Tobago relied strictly on monotonous long-balls from central defenders Marvin "Dog" Andrews and Dennis "Tallest" Lawrence.

Against the run of play, a long clearance by goalkeeper Kelvin Jack, in goal instead of an injured Clayton Ince, found captain Dwight Yorke in the 23rd minute.

Yorke fed Carlos Edwards on the right wing and his low centre was muffed by striker Stern John inside the penalty box. But John (S), the target of widespread criticism for his lacklustre performances of late, will redeem himself in the 34th.

After Yorke collected a right-side throw-in from David Atiba Charles, he squared a pass to John (S) who held off the challenge of Panama captain Jose Anthony to blast home past goalkeeper Donaldo Gonzalez.

Three minutes into the second half, John (S) again found himself with a goalscoring opportunity, from a low centre from Chris Birchall, but he was denied by the defensive pair of Anthony and Joel Solanilla. The Pana-manians went into all-out attack-mode, with substitute striker Jose Garces drilling a left-footer overbar in the 53rd while Julio Medina forced Jack to punch away a thunderous 25-metre left-footed effort seven minutes later.

But their hopes of salvaging a draw were dashed in the 72nd minute, as a clearance from a corner, by midfielder Aurtis Whitley, found John (S) who sent an overlapping Law-rence goal-bound.

With the poise of a striker, defender Law-rence stopped, evaded defence man Joel Jiminez and delicately placed his left-footer past Gonzalez.

TT coach Leo Beenhakker replaced John (S), who was noticeably displeased at the switch, with Kenwyne Jones.

And Jones, like Lawrence, got himself in a one-and-one opportunity with Gonzales inside the box, in the 78th minute, but his right-footer went wide.

Jose Garces collected a Ricardo Phillips pass in the 85th and forced an airborne Jack into a brilliant save but there was no way back for the Panamanians.

Teams: TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: Kelvin Jack; Dennis Lawrence, Marvin Andrews, David Atiba Charles, Avery John; Aurtis Whitley, Densil Theobald, Carlos Edwards, Chris Birchall; Dwight Yorke (capt), Stern John (Kenwyne Jones 72nd).

PANAMA: Donaldo Gonzalez; Jose Anthony (capt), Luis Moreno, Joel Solanilla, Carlos Rivera (Joel Jiminez 72nd); Gabriel Gomez, Ricardo Phillips, Julio Medina, Alberto Blanco; Luis Tejada, Roberto Brown (Jose Garces 46th).