What was the result of

[Lazie]

the Haiti game?

[Lazie]

St James - Defending champions Haiti were held to a 1-1 draw

BY PAUL A REID Observer writer
Friday, December 05, 2008



MONTEGO BAY, St James - Defending champions Haiti were held to a 1-1 draw by a plucky Antigua& Barbuda team as play started in Group B of the Digicel Caribbean Cup Finals at Jarrett
Park yesterday.

Sony Norde, a member of the Haiti Under-23 team last year, gave them the lead in the 53rd minute, but Peter Byers equalised in the 72nd as Antigua grabbed a vital point.
Antigua's captain, George Dublin, said while they were happy for the win he thought they got the chance to steal all three points.




"A draw is better than a loss," he told the Observer minutes after the game, adding that a draw is "not the best result but a good result".

Dublin also said he thought his team "got the better chances and a great one with about 10 minutes to go and should have won the game".

Haiti will consider themselves unlucky not to have taken all three points as they hit the upright and the crossbar in the same sequence late in the game after forcing Antigua back into their own defence area.

Both teams took a long time to settle but it was Haiti which got the first real chance in the 41st minute when Linnell St Preux, another member of the Olympic team, controlled a ball on the right side, beat two defenders but his low, hard shot was dug out of the left-hand corner by goalkeeper Molvin James.

Haiti grabbed the lead eight minutes into the resumption when the skillfull Norde beat the Antiguan left-back, dribbled into the area and chipped the ball around the advancing James and over the line.

Antigua pulled level 19 minutes later when the Haitian team was seeking to put the game away and caught them on the counter. Byers, who saw little of the ball for most of the second half, raced away to the goal where after beating one defender, he easily got by goalkeeper Yves Mary Clorvin and shot into an unprotected goal.

Haiti stormed back seeking the clincher and despite creating the chances, failed to breach the Antiguan defence again.
Pierre Louis Ricardo, a second-half substitute, had a clear header in the 86th minute, but powered it downwards where it hit the ground and bounced inches over the bar.
James made a good save three minutes later, diving to his left to knock down a shot from Ricardo.

A shot from Eliphene Cadet hit the inside of the left upright in time added on and the rebound was hit onto the crossbar before an Antiguan defender could react.

The teams will be in action again tomorrow at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium when Cuba - who played Guadeloupe in the second game last night - will play Antigua in the first game at 1:00 pm, followed by Haiti and Guadeloupe at 3:00.

reidp@jamaicaobserver.com