T&TEC FC debuted with a 2-1 2011-2012 Digicel Pro League Championship Match Day One victory over seasoned DIRECTV North East Stars on Friday night at the Marvin Lee Stadium and though very pleased with the result, head coach Dexter Cyrus said he is aware of the backlash.
“Definitely the (other teams) are going to take it as a warning,” said Cyrus following the game.
“It’s our first game at this level and I think the crowd was pleased with the level of football. Other coaches from other clubs were also here and definitely they will take it as a warning, and it’s just for us to be as consistent as possible.”
Cyrus started with former England based goalkeeper Clayton Ince as captain, Akeem Adams, Anthony Noreiga, Corneal Thomas, Sylvester Teesdale, Vurlon Mills, Kevon Neaves, Kern Peters, Kerlon Furguson, Kevin Modeste and Marcus Joseph.
Eight minutes into the match the Pro League debutants were down 1-0 when North East Stars defender Seon Power headed a Kevaughn Connell freekick past Ince.
But a 13th minute strike by Teesdale leveled the scores and ex-T&T international defender Noriega netted what turned out the winner in the 43rd minute.
“We conceded an early goal, but it’s a game where we settled down very early. We responded with two unanswered goals and came away with the three points.
“This was the sort of performance I was expecting. I’m very pleased with the guys. They played with a lot of heart but the fact that we created so many chances and didn’t score, said a lot of our inexperience at the Pro League level, but nevertheless we won the game.”
Cyrus said that he will return to the training pitch and “just going to continue doing what we do.”
“I’m very energetic when it comes to the game. Right now I’m suffering from anxiety and haven’t slept for four days before the match.
“The training pitch has a lot of love on it. I try to keep the players as cool as possible and the players feed off that.”
However the T&TEC coach expressed concerns in offence after pointing out a number of missed chances.
“We definitely have to do some more finishing drills and tighten up on that, but more or less we need to get into the players’ heads psychologically,” he explained.
“They need to understand that they need to kill off games up front and don’t take any chances at the back because we had one or two lapses. And although Teesdale scored today he actually hit wide of an open goal in what should have killed the game off.
“We actually had to bite our nails till the 90th minute, and if he had scored that goal it wouldn’t be that way. So I think that we have to get into the players minds to kill the game when it’s that time. Don’t ever think that you’ll do it the next time,” added the former T&T international.
Meantime Teesdale, an ex-United Petrotrin player, spoke on scoring his first goal on return to the Pro League said, “The first goal is most important for us, that our team came away with a victory.
“I knew before the match we would have come away victorious. That’s how much faith in had in our team.”
He also mentioned that he wouldn’t dwell too much on a failed clear cut chance in the second period.
“We are working on correcting things like that during training and I believe we will get better during the season. It’s just good to start the season and that’s the best thing at the moment,” he ended.