BROWN- "We took too long to settle down and didn't start playing until Barbados scored." BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC:
BARBADOS SNAPPED Jamaica's 10-game unbeaten run in away games with a 1-0 victory over the Reggae Boyz in their friendly international at the National Stadium on Sunday night.
National youth star Riviere Williams scored a 61st minute winner for Barbados, who fended off a late flourish to register their first win over Jamaica in six years.
"For Barbados, this is a good win, it's been a long time since we have beaten Jamaica and the victory feels good," Barbados coach Kenville Layne told CMC Sport after the game.
The Jamaica coach Carl Brown blamed his team's slow start for the defeat.
"We took too long to settle down and didn't start playing until Barbados scored, he said.
"It's always disappointing when you lose, but there were some positives, with some of the players willing to try things that we did in practice," Brown added.
In a first half littered with unforced errors by both teams, the Jamaican midfielder Shane Crawford made the first impact on the game with a strong long range left footer that brought a diving stop from Barbados goalkeeper Horace Stoute.
Just before the half ended, the region's fifth-ranked Barbados went close when a neat two-man combination of passes between Llewellyn Riley and Norman Forde split the Jamaican defence and found Williams, whose near-post effort was scrambled away by Donovan Ricketts in the Jamaica goal.
The 20-year-old Williams, fresh from representing Barbados at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, sent the huge local crowd cheering 16 minutes into the second half when he scored from close range.
John Hawkesworth angled in from a right side dribble, and sent a deep cross to the left for Gregory Goodridge to collect.
The former Queens Park Rangers (England) striker quickly passed inside to Williams, who calmly slotted past Ricketts.
Jamaica, ranked number two in the Caribbean and preparing for the regional Gold Cup qualifying semi-final round, lifted their game and pressured the Barbados defence for long periods before the final whistle.
Roen Nelson turned well at the top of the box but Stoute easily deflected his tame shot from 15 yards.
Substitute Johnathon Williams also had two chances - unable to beat Stoute from seven yards in the 77th minute, and three minutes later failing to connect an attempt to deflect in a Craig Ziadie cross.
Stoute effected a superb reflex save in the 85th minute when Nelson found room and shot to his left from eight yards as Jamaicans pressed unsuccessfully for the equaliser.
"The game went to plan for us, we wanted to keep Jamaica from scoring for as long as possible before trying to hit them on the counter-attack," Layne said.
TEAMS:
BARBADOS - Horace Stoute, Wayne Sobers, John Parris, Johnathon Straker, Gregory Goodridge, John Hawkesworth, Kent Hall, Norman Forde (Rudy Grosvener-89th), Llewellyn Riley (Walton Burrowes-70th), Ryan Lucas, Rivierre Williams (Romell Brathwaite-77th).
JAMAICA - Donovan Ricketts, Linval Dixon (Damion Stewart-65th), Claude Davis, Tyrone Marshall (Oneil Dunn-86th), Robert Scarlett, Craig Ziadie, Andrew Williams (Kasai Hinds-75th), Milton Griffiths (Lacon Brissett-67th), Shane Crawford (Kirk Hendricks-46th), Jermaine Anderson (Johnathon Williams-46th), Roen Nelson.
