Barbados' national Under-17 football team continue to impress, this time with a 7-0 victory against England's Forrest School in a game played yesterday evening at the Barbados Football Association's Wildey, St Michael, AstroTurf.
Striker Kyle Lewis was the lone player to celebrate twice with a brace in the 70th and 76th minutes respectively as the Barbados team gave coach Renaldo 'Pee Wee' Gilkes a well-deserved birthday gift.
The young Bajan Tridents were up 2-0 at half-time compliments a goal each from Jaylan Gilkes with the opening strike 20 minutes into the game. Seven minutes later in the 27th minute Thierry Gale, also a senior national player, scored. The other goal scorers were Asher J'Pierre in the 55th minute, Abiola Grant registered another in the 60th and Aver Funk on the stroke of regular time in the 90th.
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Forrest's left centerback and captain Ryan Annets looking to intercept goal scorer Abiola Grant.[/caption]
Barbados found themselves at a numerical disadvantage in the 85th minute when Asher J'Pierre was sent walking by referee Troy Thorpe but that call did not worry the local bench too much. Coach Gilkes told Barbados TODAY their mission has always been to play attractively and dismiss oppositions and that is exactly what they did in the second half of the match.
He said: “We were able to utilize the wide areas a bit more and four of the goals scored came from wide plays which we worked on a lot for the past two weeks at camp, so I am quite pleased.”
Gale and Abiola Grant are the two customary forwards and they were ably supported by goal scorer Gilkes and Ashem Brewster who has been classed as a formidable pair in the midfield along with Nathan Skeete who played at right-back.
Speaking on the team and its progress so far, Gilkes added: “The boys are still growing, and yes they will be errors and without errors, there is no need for me. As we look ahead now we are aiming towards the Under-17 World Cup Qualifiers which will be in January 2019 but I believe that the football association has some plans in place to get us some needed preparation for those qualifiers. And in the media recently, the ambassador for Argentina mentioned that there is something in the pot boiling up with regards to the Under-17 team having a cultural exchange in Argentina, so we definitely have a lot to look forward to.”
Despite losing, both coaches of England's Forrest School, John Spaul and James Eagle-Sham, said they both saw lots of positives to take away from the game and chalked it up as a good experience considering this was their boys first time playing football on the island.
Spaul said: “The standard of football in Barbados is pretty good and our boys aren't to that level just yet. But they had a really good experience on a good pitch against a really good team.”
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Forrest School midfielder Joe Huxter makes a bicycle-kick clearance from Barbados ' Andre Applewhaite. (Pictures by Morissa Lindsay).[/caption]
morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
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