TT Under-23s hit Guyana back

Trinidad and Tobago’s Under-23 footballers hit back in fighting fashion following their opening loss to score a 2-1 victory over their Guyana counterparts at the Blairmont Community Centre Ground on Sunday.

Goals by Nigel Daniel in the 55th minute and Michael Lee Celestine in the 83rd gave TT a come from behind win after the home team went ahead minutes before the break through Elton Brown. The win was well appreciated by TT coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier who credited his players for showing grit after coming from a goal down. This after having been under pressure following Friday’s 2-1 loss to the same side at the Georgetown Cricket Ground. “I think today the boys deserved credit for showing character and they were more focused than Friday’smatch,” Charles-Fevrier said on Sunday night. “All in all we did well under some difficult conditions and having to play against a team of a different style of play. This is what playing at the international level is about and I am grateful that we were able to come away with a win to close the series,” he said.

Guyana went ahead when Brown collected a through pass to beat Joe Public custodian Kevin Graham. TT then replaied through Daniel whose goal, according to Fevrier, was a “brilliantly taken free kick.”  Daniel swerved the ball around a five-man wall with a left-footer which kept low and beat goalkeeper custodian Fidel Smith on his left side. TT persisted and they were rewarded when Celestine, also of Jabloteh, completed a play which included a  combination of good passes, by collecting from Daniel and picking his spot to calmly slot into the far right corner of the net. “We fell behind first but I thought we controlled the majority of the play and the guys deserve credit for this, “ Charles-Fevrier said. He also spoke well of Guyana saying  that they rose well to the occasion of playing TT, a team which they respected. “They are working really hard with a Brazilian coach (Neider Dos Santos) and they deserved credit for playing two good matches against us. They too really want to get into the final round,” he said.

Next up TT face Grenada on November 15 (in Grenada) and November 19 (Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo) in the second round of the 2004 Olympic qualifiers while Guyana take on Costa Rica. “Our preparations will continue as our main focus now will be to get into the final round and I believe that these two mathes came at a good time to get us ready for Grenada,” said Charles- Fevrier. The TT side was expected back home yesterday.