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Golden Jaguars and Les Matinino battle to 0-0 draw at MSC
Noisy Linden fans came out to urge team on
By Franklin Wilson in Linden
Watched by a capacity and vociferous crowd last night, Guyana’s flagship Golden
Golden Jaguars starting X1 that played Martinique last night at the MSC ground in Linden.
Jaguars battled to an exciting 0-0 draw with the visiting Les Matinino, Martinique’s senior national side at the Mackenzie Sports club ground.
The crowd made their presence felt from the first to the final whistle of the 95 minute shindig as football made a welcome return to the Bauxite Mining Town after a hiatus of over five years.
Following a scratchy first half which saw the home team playing a bit pensive on a sand based surface, they {Guyana} adjusted and upped the ante in the second half and created quite a few chances as did their opponents but neither were that clinical in the final third which resulted in no goals being scored.
Guyana were a bit slow to the ball in the first half as the quickness of the French side which have qualified for the CONCACAF Gold Cup and Caribbean Football Union Championship Finals caught them napping.
But even with that, the home team displayed an encouraging desire to excel against a side that features a number of solid players and a side that have made it to the Gold Cup, the Confederation’s flagship championship on multiple occasions.
First choice Goalkeeper Andrew Durant, who is based Trinidad and Tobago, brought off some close saves in the second half that kept the Martinique side out including one that resulted in him twisting his knee which saw him being substituted very close to full time, another T&T based goalie, Akel Clarke, taking over between the uprights.
The Martinique starting team that opposed the Golden Jaguars last night at the MSC ground in Linden.
With the friendly nature of the match, Guyana’s Technical staff of seasoned campaigner Wayne ‘Wiggy’ Dover and debutant Assistant Coach Charles ‘Lily’ Pollard utilised five other subs as fresh legs were introduced strategically in the second half.
Chances were created but not put away, Pernel Schultz coming close on two occasions but went over the cross bar, a tad bit more patience could have very well seen the Golden Jaguars burying one past Kevin Olimpa in goal for the visitors.
At the post match press conference, Captain Cox expressed gratitude to the hundreds of fans who came out to support them which gave the team a needed boost.
”At the end of the day we went out and did not concede a goal, I felt we were good defensively as a unit, well organised and I think we really frustrated Martinique today. So it was a really a good performance and now we have to progress from this.”
Goalkeeper Durant, who was also present at the post match press conference, also thanked the fans for their brilliant support whilst thanking God for allowing him the opportunity to once again represent his country.
”I think our performance today was very good providing the conditions that we played under, I think the guys did well defensively. Offensively we need to do a bit more work but it’s a new start and going forward I think we would do better.”
Durant also said that he is looking forward to the same crowd support for future matches.
Interim Head Coach Dover congratulated his team for a splendid performance against a top opponent.
”As the Captain said we came out not to concede a goal and not to lose the game and that is what we achieved. In the first half they made the game a bit difficult for us because we taught they would have sat back and let us come but they took the game to us and we were a bit uncomfortable in the early stages.
But once the game wore on and we found our way we start to impose our own style of play on the Martinique team and we see that we created many chances, they created chances too but the end result was 0-0 which we welcome and accept.”
Les Matinino Captain Kevin Parsemain in summing up the performance of his side said that the game was a good one for them especially after their loss to Barbados on Sunday night last.
”We knew we would be tired but I think we played pretty well, we did all we wanted to do and we didn’t score, we weren’t very efficient but we don’t have to be disappointed about the 0-0 result.”
Coach Jean-Marc Civault noted that the time for the two matches was very short but it was important for him not to lose and to stay focused on the Caribbean Cup of Nations in July.
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