Despite losing to Saint Martin in their last home leg match in League B of the CONCACAF Nations League – Team Saint Lucia maintains its place at the top of Group B.
Team Saint Lucia suffered a shock defeat to Saint Martin going down 4-0, on Monday, at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.
The Piton Boyz had previously defeated all their opponents in that group and appeared to be heading towards a comfortable finish, but Saint Martin stole the show on Monday.
The match took off at a blistering pace with the home team pressing forward with a good play that was stoutly defended by the goalkeeper.
However, minutes later Saint Martin struck from the penalty spot with Keelan Lebon scoring in the eighth minutes of play. The visitors went on to score two more goals in that session, as Sacha Barakat finished strongly with a speedy run to blast a powerful shot into the nets in the 26.
Lebon was again in the fray of things as he converted a brace in the 45+2’ to give his team a commanding lead.
Saint Martin continued its dominance in the second half, Pierre-Bertrand Arne made a crafty offensive play count in the 62’.
Unlike the visitors, Saint Lucia missed some good scoring opportunities and was denied by goal-keeper Sebastien Raphose many times and was supported by a strong defence line led by captain Belony Dumas.
Contrastingly, Team Saint Lucia’s custodian Vino Barclett experienced a torrid time in the goal as opposed to his usually dependable performances.
The Piton Boyz appeared to have lost their momentum in that match and catapulted to a humiliating defeat in front of supportive home fans.
This was in stark contrast to the lively ‘rhythm section’ of fans that played joyfully, last Friday, as Team Saint Lucia got past Saint Martin 2-1.
Nonetheless, head coach Stern John feels that though the players were utterly disheartened with that loss, they will live to fight on and to regain their composure in the two upcoming away matches, next month. He noted that the defense did not hold up from the start and this allowed their opponents to gain an advantage over them.
“For us as a team, when we play more compact we are more hardened(difficult) to beat,” coach John told reporters at a post-match interview, on Monday.
On the other hand, he added: “When we play open and we try to go after teams we are more vulnerable at the back a bit. But, we have to approach every game differently from the others.”
Observing that Team Saint Lucia still have an opportunity to redeem themselves, coach John says, “We can’t hang our heads and say it’s the end of the campaign. We still have two more games to play for …and we have to be ready for that, come November.”
Meanwhile, in another League B match Curaçao solidified its second place in Group B with a 1-nil win over Grenada, in the double-header encounter at the DSCG, on Monday.
Junhino Bacuna scored the winning goal in the 30’ to seal the victory, though Grenada tried to put on a fight back in the latter session. As the October window closes , the ‘Spice Islanders’ are in third place in Group B.
The two sides played to a goalless draw, last Friday.