HI Mo you and HL a cousin or something?

[Assasin]

Whe the match report? "shortly" or something like that?

Question, how many people de a di match?

Mi nuh see nothing inna Sickko match report either.

[Mosiah]

by early afternoon i'll have something on your desk!

[Assasin]

thanks in advance, mi just fi get your evaluation on each game.

Mi nuh want it "Lumped"

[HL]

Assasin, wasn't Sickko one of the six who received an award in Jamaican journalism?

He must be very busy celebrating--so he is unable to publish his artikle on the match.

BTW: Which one of the six was Sickko?

ThankX in advance!

[Assasin]

none a dem a nuh Sickko. you nuh know Sickko yet?

Sickko nuh go a town, him will give we a report later from down a bay after this game.

[Sickko]

You have to be a member of the PAJ to get any of their awards

[Mosiah]

The first thing that struck most of us was the lineup – Sean Fraser, Eric Vernan and Jason Morrison – while Demar Phillips, Dane Richards, two of more seasoned campaigners, were benched.

The Boyz started out positively, passing the ball around smoothly and making some good runs in to the area. Cummings and Shelton were largely responsible for such runs, but the final pass left a lot to be desired. Meanwhile, Barbados did what they could and did manage to get maybe 3 shots off on goal, while we had still not taken a shot. Our speed, strength and coordination in passing were too much for the Bajans to handle, but they defended strongly. Eventually, Richard Austin managed to take one of his powerhouse kicks from about 30 meters out, but it sailed harmlessly over the crossbar.

And just as Rico said beware of the Bajans squeaking out a goal against the run of play – there it happened, from a corner. It appeared that Ricketts was planted on his line and should have come for the ball that was clearly in the 6 yard box, but I believe he thought the defenders would have headed out the ball. Instead, it floated above 2 defenders’ heads to a Bajan’s, and the score was 1-0.

The Bajans almost doubled it when their striker was sent onto goal with a good pass. Marshall was clearly beaten but was good enough to provide a match-saving sliding tackle to clear it from the Bajan’s feet. The defence was pretty shaky for much of the game, and if it weren’t for Marshall sheer and utter brilliance, we could have been in trouble. Rafe Wolfe did not impress on the left side, while Vernan on the right did well going forward to some degree but always seemed to prefer passing back the ball. Oneil Thompson played a solid first half but either tired badly in the second or just plain screwed up.

As expected in the second half, the Bajans defended with 11 players behind the ball combined with some rough tackles. Two of the normally coolest players on the field, Marshall and Austin, began to show extreme frustration from the rough tackles and from being down a goal. The Boyz launched attack after attack on the Bajan goal, but were unable to get a good look. Austin shots from distance lacked their usual punch and direction.

Meanwhile, the coaching staff sat motionless for long periods. Eventually, they sent Dane Richards out to warm up. He eventually came on for Sean Fraser, who was pretty much missing in action. Earlier, Demar Phillips replaced Omar Cummings and then Obrien Woodbine came on for Vernan.
The effect was immediate. Woodbine made some good runs down the flank, even while flubbing all his crosses. Richards played more in the middle of the field but went wide at times and was able to cut in well to lay off some very dangerous passes . He was practically unstoppable. Demar Phillips was his usual sprightly self, and when he did well to chip a ball over to goal-rushing Austin, who lobbed it wide of the keeper for the Boyz’ first goal, it gave us some hope. Just before that, the crowd was getting extremely agitated as it appeared that we would be suffering an embarrassing defeat to the Bajans as attack after attack never really amounted to anything. Our freekicks, all taken by Austin, left the goalkeeper with nothing to do.

Another right sided attack resulted in a clearly handled ball in the Bajan area, and Shelton made no mistake with the penalty kick.

The Bajans fought to the very end though. Another corner by them crossed dangerously in from of the goal as Ricketts again failed to come off his line, and a freekick just outside the area flew too close for comfort pass Rickett’s right goal post.

In the press conference, John Barnes thought the team was better in the first half, and I agree. The attacking moves were more coordinated while I thought there was a bit of desperation in attacks in the second half, despite the two goals. Not connecting on the final pass in the first half was not just due to bad execution, because I think the Bajans did well to block our efforts. Barnes explained that Phillips had just got in from England the night before and that’s perhaps why he didn’t start. Likewise, Dane Richard had come in the night before too from the USA.

[HL]

gats to be smart too....