Dennis Lawrence and Marvin Andrews, has grown into the one of the more formidable partnerships on the national team. And the benefits of this development over the last five years need to be.
The T&T defence pair, expressed more than ever today,when the Warriors play Mexico at the Hasely Crawford Stadium at 8 p.m.
Lawrence is now at Wrexham FC, while Andrews is attached to Scottish Premier League champions Glasgow Rangers.
They have been regulars in the T&T team during the qualifying campaign. They are also regular room-mates in the T&T live in camps.
You see them boarding the flights and even going for meals one behind the other.
Good understanding
“Myself and Dennis have a good understanding on and off the field. On the field it’s easy, because we play a similar position and off the field we’re room-mates and really good friends,” Andrews said on the eve of T&T’s match against Mexico.
“We just try to give our best every time to help the situation whatever it may be. It’s not just about me and Dennis though, because we just try to do our part to benefit the team.
“We’ve been playing together all the time. Once you get used to someone, we both know our strengths and weaknesses and this goes back to when Ian Porterfield put us together back in 2000 and that’s already five years and counting.
” It’s no disrespect to anyone by saying that we feel comfortable with each other, because I have played a similar role with guys like Brent Sancho and have also been comfortable. But myself and Dennis have done it longer and we can trust each other.”
Asked if he could recall when their partnership began turning into something special, Andrews was unsure, but Lawrence quickly held up an old newspaper clipping which highlighted T&T’s 1-0 win over Mexico back in July 2000, saying:
“We try to build a team and sometimes this starts with a team-mate and building relationships. It doesn’t take too much, but we have been playing for two qualifying campaigns now.
“Doggy just lets me do my thing and I let him do the same. The main thing is encouraging each other. It’s not just between us, but over a squad of 21 players.
“Fortunately, one of the good partnerships has been myself and Marvin and now you can probably look at Spann and Carlos.
”We talk a lot on the phone when we’re outside in the UK, maybe even to just have a laugh.”