St Clair buoyant ahead of Grenada clash

TRINIDAD and  Tobago football coach Bertille St Clair was in a buoyant mood after his side’s 5-0 thrashing of Puerto Rico in the first match of Wednesday’s double-header at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Tunapuna, in Group D of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Digicel Cup First Round began. American-based forward Cornell Glen netted a hat-trick for the TT lads while stand-in captain Derek King and striker Conrad Smith got the other goals to put the hosts atop the four-team standings.

“It was not a bad result because a win is a win,” said St Clair. “I thought the youngsters did well even though we still have a long way to go. “It was good to see young Glen finally coming good with the hat-trick and I liked the return of (Kerwyn) Jemmot and (Leslie) Fitzpatrick also had a good debut. Keyeno Thomas and Cyd Gray also did pretty well,” St Clair added. Wednesday’s games were played under heavy conditions and St Clair is hopeful for three additional points from the Grenadians. “We are taking one game at a time,” said the Tobago-born coach. “Playing two days later is going to be tough but we are all playing under the same conditions.”

The Grenadians battled to a 2-2 draw against Suriname in the second match on  Wednesday.  The Surinamers went ahead on a 27th minute own-goal by defender Patrick Modeste before an overhead kick by Ricky Charles tied the scores in the 46th. Nigel Bishop got Grenada’s second goal four minutes later before Suriname equalised in the 59th through Clifton Sandvliet. Action continues today at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella, with Puerto Rico meeting Suriname at 6 pm, while TT play Grenada two hours later.