A Chris Nurse-led squad defeated a Rest Squad 4-1 when the Golden Jaguars 2018 World Cup Training Roster staged a friendly practice match yesterday at the Leonora Sports Facility, West Demerara.
Sheldon Holder, Neil Danns, Daniel Wilson and Marcel Barrington scored for the winners in the 12th, 30th, 37th and 77th minutes respectively while Emery Welshman netted for the losers in the 59th minute.
Nurse during a post match comment said:”It is a good competitive squad which is good for us, we have a lot talent but the main thing will be discipline. The coaches have a large headache as to how to pick the team. We also have depth in both senior and U23 teams because we have players that can play in both.
“Once you have the infrastructure, there will be serious development and who knows what can happen with Guyanese football. It can only go in one direction, it can’t go down and you will see payers fulfilling their potential”.
With both teams allowed to utilize substitutes and switch players at the half-time interval, Nurse’s starting XI featured Akel Clarke, Colin Nelson, Sam Cox, Jamal Smith, Matthew Briggs, Wilson, Vurlon Mills, Brandon Beresford, Danns and Holder.
The Rest Squad starting XI consisted of Derick Carter, Solomon Austin, Konata Manning, Trayon Bobb, Welshman, Daniel Whyte, Clive Nobrega, Kevin Beaton, Adrian Butters, Chris Camacho and Barrington.
In the first half of the fixture, Holder broke the deadlock 12 minutes into the matchup with a cheeky flicked strike into the back of the goal, after collecting a left side pass from Danns.
It would then become 2-0, 18 minutes later as Danns etched his name on the scorer’s sheet, finishing past custodian Carter from within the area, after latching onto a through pass from the left side of the field.
Nurse’s squad would go into half-time with a three goal lead as Wilson scored eight minutes before half-time, running onto a defence splitting through pass from Holder before placing his effort into the roof of the goal, following a one-on-one with Carter within the centre of the box.
The Rest Squad would eventually pull one back 14 minutes into the second period through Welshman, who directed his powerful header down the centre of the goal past substitute custodian Anthony White, after receiving a right side corner kick within the six yard box.
Barrington would seal the win 13 minutes before the fixture’s conclusion as he converted from the penalty mark after being brought down within the centre of the 18-yard area.
Switching sides during the second half period, Barrington would rifle his powerful right footed effort past substitute shot-stopper Matthew Allicock into the right hand corner of the net.
The Golden Jaguars will open their campaign away from home on June 10th against St. Vincent and Grenadines before returning four days later for the second leg at the National Stadium in Providence.
The final roster is expected to be named on Saturday while they are expected to depart local shores on Monday.
Central defender Adrian Butters (red) in the process of challenging midfielder Vurlon Mills for possession of the ball just outside the 18-yard box during their inter-squad practice match.
