Valiant TT suffer 4-3 defeat as Haiti progress to Gold Cup play-off

This after a 4-3 victory, in extra time, over hosts Trinidad and Tobago in the last Fifth Round Playoffs fixture at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva.

Fils Belfort Kervens scored twice for Haiti, while Derrick Etienne and Andrew Jean Baptiste contributed one apiece. Enigmatic striker Shahdon Winchester responded with a valiant hat-trick for TT .

Trinidad and Tobago made four changes from the team that lost 2-1 to Suriname on Wednesday, with Winchester, Aikim Andrews, Andre Boucaud and Maurice Ford replacing Akeem Roach, Hashim Arcia, Hughtun Hector and Carlyle Mitchell.

Haiti, on the other hand, fielded an unchanged starting 11 from the squad that whipped Suriname 4-2 on Friday.

Winchester opened his, and his team’s account, in the first minute, slotting a right-footer past goalkeeper Guerry Romondt after good work inside the penalty box, on the right, by winger Nathan Lewis.

Haiti forward Ajonel Desire came close to levelling the scores in the 10th minute, controlling a deep ball from Mardoenee Pompe Samuel but he struck his left-footed effort overbar. Moments later, TT central defender Radanfah Abu Bakr leapt high to meet a corner from Tyrone Charles but his header was tipped overbar by an alert Romondt.

However, Haiti tied the scores, albeit in debatable circumstances.

In the 20th, referee Ricangel De Luca awarded a foul against Ford after a tangle with Belfort Kervens, to the dismay of the TT centre-back.

The TT team’s mood worsened when Belfort Kervens took the freekick quickly and found an alert Etienne who curled his right-footed shot past the left of TT keeper Adrian Foncette.

Another quickly taken freekick, this time on the opposite end, revitalised TT ’s fortunes five minutes later.

De Luca blew for an infringement on Romondt, for holding a deliberate back pass from Wilguens Aristilde and Andrews fed Winchester who directed his right-footed effort into the vacant net.

Haiti shook off that setback to knot the scores once again, in the 39th, with Belfort Kervens getting ahead of Abu Bakr to head home a corner from Herold Charles.

TT captain Carlos Edwards had to be taken off in the 20th due to injury but his replacement Alvin Jones’ freekick, early in the second half, was partially cleared by Romondt and Andrews’ long-range rebound sailed inches overbar.

Etienne and Alex Christian came close later in the second half while, in the first session of extra time, Romondt did well to save point-blank efforts from substitute Cornell Glen and stand-in captain Abu Bakr and, on the opposite end, Desire and Jean Baptiste came close to putting the Haitians ahead for the first time.

Nathan Lewis struck the crossbar with an opportunistic cross in the 108th minute but Belfort Kervens notched Haiti_s third goal two minutes later. Substitute Hector tried in vain but assistant referee Raidel Toledo of Cuba ruled that Belfort Kervens’ header, from Herold Charles’ corner, had crossed the line.

With fans leaving the venue, Winchester completed his treble in the 112th, taking Abu Bakr’s headed feed to slot home past Romondt.

However, Jean Baptiste put the result beyond doubt in the 117th, as he capitalised on a mix-up between Foncette and Jones and headed home a cross from the left by Herold Charles.