With the away goals rule applying to this stage of the competition, three first-half goals from Dantaye Gilbert, Real Gill and Justin Garcia led a come-from-behind 3-2 win by T&T’s senior footballers over Antigua and Barbuda in the first leg of their Concacaf Gold Cup play-in on Thursday night at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, St John’s, Antigua.
The teams will clash again at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain, on November 16 for the right to progress to the Gold Cup Prelims in June 2027.
The home team settled first at a facility which is more frequently used to host cricket matches and drew first blood after just the third minute of play. Antigua’s Sean Tomlinson and T&T’s Ryan Telfer contested a right-side corner kick. Tomlinson’s header took an unfortunate bounce off Telfer, which seemed to throw off goalkeeper Denzil Smith, who allowed the ball to slip through his grasp rather than complete a routine catch for a 1-0 advantage to the host team.
The early blunder compounded the team’s drop from League ‘A’ to ‘B’ in the Concacaf Nations League as well as the absence of a few key players for the encounter, but coach Derek King was anything but bothered.
His team made amends on the quarter of the hour mark that knotted up the scores at one. This time, lanky midfielder Dantaye Gilbert was the target of a threaded ball by Real Gill into the Antigua and Barbuda penalty area, and Gilbert’s snapshot forced its way through the arms and legs of Shahoi Dorsett in the Antigua goal.
The goal boosted the visitors’ confidence, which led to them increasing the frequency of attacks on the Antigua & Barbuda goal area.
King’s men also kept possession of the ball impressively and displayed patience in their build-ups.
Gilbert was unlucky not to add another to the T&T tally when Luke Phillip served to him lurking at the edge of the 18-yard area, but after turning nicely past his marker, Gilbert’s low shot was pushed wide in the 20th minute.
However, the home side could do nothing to deny Real Gill handing T&T a 2-1 lead five minutes later. Strangely, it came mere seconds after an earlier goal by the diminutive striker was ruled out for offside. The second time of asking, Gill exchanged passes with Molik Khan to advance into the penalty box before Khan’s backheel pass to Gill invited the latter to strike the ball hard and low past Dorsett and into the vacant left corner.
The home tried to respond with a few attempts to advance at the T&T goal, only to have them broken up in T&T’s defensive third.
Instead, lanky defender Justin Garcia made it 3-1 as he guided Khan’s curling pass into the bottom right corner in the 45th minute, just before the teams were ushered off the pitch at halftime.
Upon the resumption, the home team offered an early surge of attacks, only to be thwarted by a steady T&T defence.
Khan, the architect of most of the T&T attacks, was the target when Gilbert released him from right. But Khan, with just Dorsett in front of him, went for power and struck the ball high over the crossbar in the 72nd minute.
The game appeared to be heading for a 3-1 T&T victory until substitute Brandon Satchell gave Antigua and Barbuda late hope in the second minute of added time. The midfielder spun quickly from a pass that found him unmarked in the T&T box, and he lashed the ball low past Smith of a 3-2 final margin.
His efforts may have come too late in this match as referee Adonis Carrasco of the Dominican Republic ended proceedings shortly after. However, they are heading to the second leg in Port-of-Spain next Monday, with a bit of a boost.
RESULT
TT 3 (Dantaye Gilbert 15th, Real Gill 25th, Justin Garcia) vs Antigua & Barbuda 2 (Sean Tomlinson 3rd, Brandon Satchell 90th+2)
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA – STARTING XI
21 Shahoi Dorsett (gk), 2 Amir Daley, 3 Kylano Isaac, 8 Sean Tomlinson, 9 Dion Pereira (20 Brandon Satchell – 60th), 10 Thomas James Bramble (23 Vaughn Jackson – 46th), 11 Quinton Griffith, 14 Jahzinho O’Garro, 16 Kayonte George (15 Daryl Massicot – 60th), 17 Leroy Graham (22 Blavion James – 79th), 19 D’andre Bishop (13 Ashley Nathaniel George – 60th)
UNUSED SUBS
1 Jayden Martin (gk), 18 Zaieem Scott (gk), 4 Dajari Barthley, 5 Shakore Simon, 6 Tyrik Hughes, 7 Raheem Deterville, 12 Kemoi Walsh,
T&T STARTING XI
22 Denzil Smith, 2 Deron Payne, 4 Jaheim Joseph, 7 Ryan Telfer, 8 Luke Phillip (12 Shervohnez Hamilton – 87th), 10 Molik Khan, 14 Wayne Frederick II (23 Noah Powder – 87th), 15 Dantaye Gilbert (16 Daniel David – 75th), 17 Justin Garcia, 18 Andre Rampersad, 20 Real Gill (6 Kaihim Thomas – 75th)
UNUSED SUBS
1 Jahiem Wickham, 21 Teshorne Ragoo, 3 Andre Raymond, 5 Neveal Hackshaw, 9 Nathaniel James, 11 Kathon St Hillaire, 13 Ali Kazim Nakhid, 19 Nicholas Dillon,
