T&T U-23s fight back to earn a 5-2 win over Bermuda

Eight minutes later Tahj Bell in goal for Bermuda made two point blank saves to prevent Trinidad’s Trent Lougheed from equalizing. After some 15 minutes Keishan Bean rounded the Trinidad goalkeeper Andre Marchan but had his shot cleared off the line.

In the 22nd minute Trinidad’s Jamal Juma Clarence capitalized on a Angelo Simmons bad back pass to beat Bell with a shot to his right from the edge of the box. Three minutes later Trinidad took the lead when Daneil Cyrus beat his marker on the edge of the box and curled his left footed shot around a diving Bell to make the score 2 – 1. In the 35th minute Devrae Tankard’s attempted header clear fell to Marcus Joseph who’s left footed volley flew pass a stranded Bell.

Click Here to see the Full Bermuda Under 23’s & Trinidad Under 23’s Half Time Stats

In the 50th minute Lougheed got his name on the score sheet when he followed up a Clarence shot the Bell could not hang onto to make the score 4–1. In the 56th minute Reggie Lambe beat his marker and slipped the ball through for Bean to slip by an advancing Marchan to make the score 4 – 2.

Both teams have been guilty of giving the ball away in the second half, as in the 74th minute Marchan did well to get down low to stop a Nahki Wells shot. In the 83rd minte a free kick from Wells went across the face of the Trinidad goal as Bermuda are looking to make it a one goal game. In the 85th minute Trinidad substitute Jerrel Britto had his point blank shot saved by Bell, a minute later Bell dove to his right to save a shot from Jevon Morris another sub. In the 90th minute a cross from Britto was put away by Stephen Campbell to give Trinidad a 5–2 lead.

Click Here to see the Full Bermuda Under 23’s & Trinidad Under 23’s Full Time Stats

SCORING SUMMARY

Bermuda:
Shane HOLLIS (2' pen)
Keishan BEAN (56')

Trinidad & Tobago:
Jamal CLARENCE (22')
Daniel CYRUS (25')
Marcus JOSEPH (35')
Trent LOUGHEED (50')
Stephen CAMPBELL (90')

TEAMS

Bermuda:
0. Tahj BELL, 2. Roger LEE (Antonio LOWE 80'), 4. Marquel WALDRON, 6. Jason DAVIS (Nahki WELLS 59'), 9. Angelo SIMMONS (Antwan RUSSELL 73'), 11. Shane HOLLIS, 15. Ryan PURNELL (Shaun BROWN 80'), 17. Keishan BEAN, 19. Reggie LAMBE (Ajani GIBBONS 80'), 20. Seion DARRELL, 21. Devrae TANKARD

Substitutes:
8. Shaun BROWN, 10. Nahki WELLS, 7. Antwan RUSSELL, 16. Ajani GIBBONS, 14. Antonio LOWE, Daniel JOHNSON

Coach: Scott MORTON

Trinidad & Tobago:
21. Andre MARCHAN, 3. Curtis GONZALES (Jevon MORRIS 68'), 5. Akeem ADAMS (Jovin JONES 76'), 6. Leston PAUL (capt.) (Stephen CAMPBELL 71'), 11. Trent LOUGHEED (Micah LEWIS 60'), 13. Jamal CLARENCE, 14. Jean-Luc ROCHFORD, 15. Nicholas WALKER, 16. Marcus JOSEPH (Jerrel BRITTO 60'), 17. Mikeil WILLIAMS (Sheldon BATEAU 71'), 19. Daniel CYRUS

Substitutes:
10. Jerrel BRITTO, 7. Micah LEWIS, 18. Jevon MORRIS, 9. Stephen CAMPBELL, 4. Sheldon BATEAU, 12. Jovin JONES

Coach: Zoran VRANES

YELLOW CARDS

Bermuda:
20. Seion DARRELL 39'

Trinidad & Tobago:
13. Jamal CLARENCE 25'
19. Daniel CYRUS 58'
6. Leston PAUL 65'

Trinidad show who's boss ... but Bermuda take away positives
By Stephen Wright (The Royal Gazette)

They started brightly, showed flickers of promise throughout but were ultimately undone by a more accomplished and experienced group of players.

No surprise there, then.

Trinidad's extra maturity and know-how were the very reasons why the Bermuda Football Association invited them to the play a double-header against the National Academy's Under-23 team.

They wanted to test Scott Morton's young, gifted but naive team against the very best the Caribbean region has to offer.

And although Morton's men were undoubtedly second best at the National Sports Centre yesterday, they did at least offer glimpses of promise to suggest there is sufficient talent in their ranks to mould them into a decent team.

They made a perfect start to the festive friendly when Shayne Hollis scored a penalty after Curtis Gonzales had chopped down the waspish winger in the second minute.

And while a superb double save from Bermuda goalkeeper Tahj Bell prevented Trinidad's Trent Lougheed from equalising soon after, Bermuda continued to create goalscoring chances with Keishen Bean having an effort cleared off the line after rounding Trinidad 'keeper Andre Marchan.

A sluggish looking Trinidad were then gifted an equaliser when Angelo Simmons surrendered possession to Jamal Clarence whose shot from the edge of the box should have been saved by Bell. It was a poor goal to give away and seemed to shake Trinidad from their slumber.

The Gombey Warriors could do nothing about Trinidad's second goal though, when the impressive Daneil Cyrus cut in from the right and curled the ball into the far corner of the net with a exquisite left foot strike.

Still, the hosts continued to cause a few problems at the other end. Simmons got on the end of a Reggie Lambe cross but could not steer his close range shot past the onrushing Marchan.

By now Bermuda were seriously struggling to keep a lid on Trinidad's four-pronged attack and fell further behind when Devrae Tankard's poor headed clearance fell to Marcus Joseph who made no mistake from inside the box.

After the break Trinidad struck again when Bell fumbled Clarence's shot allowing Lougheed to get his name on the scoresheet with the simplest of finishes.

Despite the four-goal deficict, Bermuda refused to throw in the towel and pulled a goal back when Lambe showed his class with a brilliantly weighted through-ball for Keishen Bean who confidently rolled the ball past Marchan.

For a brief period Bermuda started to reassert themselves as Trinidad took their foot off the gas with substitutes Nahkia Wells and Antonio Lowe particularly impressing in the latter stages.

But Trinidad still had the final say when Stephen Campbell converted Jerrel Britto's cross in the last minute.

Bermuda coach Scott Morton said he felt there were positives to take away from the game despite the hefty defeat.

"The first 25 minutes went according to our game plan but we always knew it was going to be a challenge in the wet conditions against a drilled opposition like Trinidad," he said.

"There are positives to take away from this match, which we will use for our data. They took their goals well and it was a fair scoreline although I believe we could have scored a couple of more goals.

"We have to look at our individual responsibilities . . . we have to become accustomed to Trinidad's movement off the ball. Our players are just not used to that at the domestic level."

"I was encouraged that we did not dismantle as a team despite conceding that amount of goals – we kept working."

Bermuda Under-23s: T.Bell, R.Lee (A.Gibbons, 79), R.Purnell (A.Lowe, 79), M.Waldron, D.Tankard, A.Simmons (A.Russell, 70) S.Darrell, J.Davis (N.Wells, 68), S.Hollis, K.Bean, R.Lambe (S.Brown, 78)

Yellow cards: S.Darrell

Trinidad Under-23s: A.Marchan, J.Rochford (S.Bateau, 69), L.Paul (S.Campbell, 83) T.Lougheed (J.Britto, 69), A.Adams (J.Jones, 86), D.Cyrus, N.Walker, C.Gonzales (J.Morris, 72), M.Williams, M.Joseph (M.Lewis, 69), J.Clarence

Referee: A. Mouchette

Man of the Match: D.Cyrus (Trinidad)

Trinidad coach unhappy
By Stephen Wright (The Royal Gazette)

An disgruntled Trinidad coach Zoran Vranes criticised his team's performance and demanded an improved display when they take on Bermuda on New Year's Day.

Despite comfortably beating the National Academy Under-23s 5-2, Vranes was angered by elements of Trinidad's game and accused his players of being careless in possession.

"No, I am not pleased with our performance," he said. "The result was okay but we were far from where we are supposed to be. I expected a far better performance from my team.

"We did not run enough and we were very slow from defence to attack. Our passes were not as precise as usual. Our crosses and goals were okay but we can definitely play better, much better."

Serbian Vranes said Bermuda's players had some potential but looked inexperienced and lacked physical presence.

"I have known Bermuda for many years and they have always developed good players. Although they do not have much experience you can see they have some potential and their players could develop into good ones.

"I think they may lack some physical potential, though. Bermuda in the past, at least, has had stronger guys who are a little bit faster. But they are a young team that has time to be okay one day."

Vranes said two more players were due to arrive in Bermuda today and would be added to Trinidad's squad for tomorrow's match against Premier Division defending champions Devonshire Cougars.

Captain Leston Paul admitted Trinidad were guilty of making a sloppy start to yesterday's match.

"We were below par. We started off slow and the conditions were different from back home and that made it difficult for us," said midfielder Paul. "As soon as we scored we settled down and started to play a bit better than we did in the first ten minutes."

Bean: We must cut out mental lapses
By Derek deChabert (The Royal Gazette)

Bermuda Under-23 goalscorer Keishen Bean has called on his side to rebound from their 5-2 loss at the hands of Trinidad and Tobago yesterday at the National Sports Centre (NSC) and level the two-match series on New Year's Day.

Bean's goal was a consolation with the score already at 4-1 before the strike breathed life back into the match momentarily.

The score would suggest that Bermuda were well outplayed, but critical mistakes cost them their early lead, falling behind to lapses of concentration in defence.

Yet Somerset Eagles striker, Bean, believes if Bermuda can cut out the mental lapses, the final match between the two nations could be much different.

"That is how it is in the international game, you can have a great game for 88 minutes but one lapse in concentration will be punished and that's what happened to us," said Bean.

"We played well and went up but two lapses on our part allowed them to get back in the match.

"Once they got back in it the goals came quick."

Bean, who plies his trade with Ottawa Fury in the US amateur PDL league, was adamant Bermuda can close the gap on Trinidad, but admitted the visitors played with more intent.

He pointed out yesterday's match was the first game of a two-match series, and that Bermuda's players would be striving to improve in training this week.

"I don't think that they were that much better than us, but the difference was their organisation," he said.

"They had a purpose to switch the ball from left to right and try to attack that way. We did our best and hopefully we can bounce back on Friday.

"The positive thing is that today is Monday, we will look to bounce back and strategise on how to beat them.

"I hope on Friday that we can change around our fortunes and put five in them."

Next up for Trinidad is Premier Division champions Devonshire Cougars at the NSC tomorrow night at 8 p.m. before their rematch with Scott Morton's men on New Year's Day.