PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

The Trinidad and (T&T) Soca Warriors marked their return to a local pitch with a superb 5-0 win over St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in their friendly international at the Hasely Crawford Stadium Saturday night.

Two goals by Stern John propelled Trinidad and Tobago's effort, their first outing since historically appearing at the World Cup Finals in Germany in June.

T&T got the opening goal in the 13th minute as Chris Birchall tucked away a rebound off of Dwight Yorke's header from just outside the area.

John, playing his 99th match for the T&T national team, showed a flash of brilliance in the 15th minute when he cut inside his defender only to strike his shot well wide of the target.

T&T maintained shape and effectively took control of the middle of the park allowing the Vincentians no room, enjoying long periods of ball possession and shutting down their opponents.

In the 24th minute, Birchall took a short corner to Collin Samuel, who returned the ball to the English-born midfielder whose cross was met well by SVG's goalkeeper Melvin Andrews, but his punch fell favourably for John and the striker put away T&T's second.

Second try

Immediately after the half-time break, T&T struck again as John outfoxed two Vincentian defenders and picked his spot in the 48th minute.

SVG, coming off a stunning 2-1 win over highly-rated Jamaica a week earlier that knocked the Reggae Boyz out of the Digicel Caribbean Cup, were unable to match the home side and fell into further trouble with a red card to Benford Joseph early in the second half.

Joseph earned himself two yellow cards - the second for a foul on John - and Surinamese referee Enrico Wijngaarde also had to give Dexter Walker his marching orders for a clumsy 65th-minute foul on second-half substitute Kenwyne Jones.

From the resulting free-kick, captain Dwight Yorke effortlessly put the ball past the hapless Vincentian goalkeeper. T&T completed the rout of the nine-man SVG team after Kerry Baptiste, a second-half replacement for Carlos Edwards, benefited from John's good work on the left side that produced a spot on cross which Baptiste put away with his first touch of the match marking a memorable full national debut.