TIC-TAC-TOE! Eenie-meenie-miney-moe!
This perhaps best describes the 71st minute icing item from beanpole Warriors defender Dennis Lawrence in their make-or-break 2-0 win against Panama at the Hasely Crawford National Stadium last Saturday.
TIC: Lawrence kidnapped the pelota a short distance away from the far left of his team’s 18-yard box.
With a neat touch, he slipped custody over to skipper Dwight Yorke near the half-line and started a diagonal run towards the right edge of the Panamanian goal.
A murmur from the two-thirds filled stadium lent to the harmony of the incessant drumming and rhythmic noises to applaud the consummate ease with which Lawrence who plays for English Club Wrexham, waltzed the play.
TAC: Yorke tapped to his unmarked strike partner, Stern John, just inside the opponents’ half of the field, who was in a more threatening position to launch forward.
Sensing that something was definitely on, the decibel level grew with anticipatory instructions chorused from the estimated 15,000 Warriors’ supporters.
TOE: In a split second, Lawrence negotiating his advance to perfection, to stay onside, broke clear, all the while waving for delivery.
John lifted his head and picked out his six-foot-six teammate, who controlled well enough even as he was confronted by a defender.
Then, with a body beat the opposite way, hypnotic drag with the inside of his right foot and unmistakable urging from the fans in red, Lawrence turned, leaving the attendant Panamanian defender marking a shadow.
EENIE-MEENIE-MINEY-MOE: Facing goal and with time hanging still long enough for him to choose his spot, Lawrence calmly let loose a clinically precise left-footer to the far corner that effectively put a double-seal to claim the handsome three-point ransom as the pelota nestled at the back of the net.
Goalkeeper Jaime Penado never had a chance.
The crowd went wild, pyrotechnics exploded and confetti spouted around the stadium and hope restored of making the journey to Germany 2006.
What a classic build-up from an incisive counter-attack!
Still cool at the post match Press conference, Lawrence said it was pure instinct and he was under no pressure to score because, as a defender, everyone expected him to miss.
Coach Leo Beenhakker, who made countless nervous walks between the bench and touchline gesticulating instructions up to that point, celebrated by lighting a cigar.
After expressing brief congratulations in the team’s dressing room, the Dutchman, dapper in his cream suit, strolled to a corner at the tunnel entrance to the playing arena, offering a quiet prayer perhaps, took a moment to survey the joyous scenes of celebrations around, then lit up another cigar and drew in a deep pull.
Sitting next to Lawrence at the Press conference afterwards, he playfully discouraged his charge from such overlapping indulgence, saying with a mock stare at the former Defence Force man: “He will not be doing that again,” when asked if he would encourage defensive overlaps up front as a feature of his game plan structure.
In the 35th minute, Stern John, who missed a couple relatively “suckeye” chances, opened the Warriors’ account by squeezing one in from close up as he beat a challenge to a Yorke ground cross from the right.
Incidentally, the engineering process to that strike was initiated by right back David Atiba Charles, who combined well with midfielder Carlos Edwards to earn a throw in deep inside the Panamanian half.
Charles’ quickly threw to Yorke who provided the service required.
Edwards, who had an exceptional game, and Christopher Birchall always had good understanding in midfield, despite a few testing periods when Panama dominated possession in the middle.
Although Panamanian striker Luis Medina posed repeated threats to the TnT goal, the Warriors’ defenders grew in confidence and, as it turned out, it was only twice in the second half that goalie Kelvin Jack was really extended to keep a clean slate.