T&T senior men’s football team coach, former England-international Terry Fenwick said he was very pleased with his team’s 3-0 win over Guyana in their 2022 Qatar World Cup Concacaf qualifier at the Pan American Stadium, San Cristobal, Dominican Republic on Thursday night.
AEK Athens winger Levi Garcia opened the scoring for T&T, in the seventh minute before defender Sheldon Bateau guided in a Ryan Telfer free-kick into the far corner with his thigh while the latter added the third after some sloppy goalkeeping from Guyana’s Akel Clarke in the 44th minute for a 3-0 half-time lead.
It could have been worse for Guyana, but T&T’s Joevin Jones had his penalty attempt twice blocked by goalkeeper Clarke, with his second rebound attempt being deflected away as well.
Speaking after the match, the under-fire Fenwick who made his debut in charge of the national team in a 7-0 thrashing from USA last month, said: “Obviously, I am very pleased with the result. These are my players that want to make T&T football and the football fans back in T&T proud again about our performances and I can’t say anything too hard about them.
“The performance was great, but I’m really upset that we missed a penalty and the fashion that we did miss and the rebound, but the general performance was excellent, well structured and very professional, but again one step at a time.
“We got another game coming up in three days (Sunday) and I’m pleased with my team and I am hoping that the public at large back in T&T will get behind our players and back us.
Reflecting on the match, Fenwick, a former Pro League-winning coach at San Juan Jabloteh and Central FC said his team needed to stay calm.
“We had to keep our composure as you know we are working with the very high press which we have done in T&T over the last 12 months.
“From that high press at 100 mph, we've got to slow it down and be composed on the ball.
“And I thought our pressing and movement was excellent and when we were direct, we were very direct and got our goals. Our set play worked very well with the in-swinging free-kick, so obviously I’m pleased but this is just the first of hopefully many, so it’s one step at a time and I want the public to get behind us.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s second match in the five-team round-robin Group F series against Puerto Rico (beaten 1-0 by St Kitts and Nevis on Wednesday) in San Juan, Fenwick said he and his team have been able to get some scouting done on the Puerto Ricans, thanks to the help of the Normalisation Committee and will be viewing the footage to prepare for them properly.