Reon Cuffy scored his first international goal as Dominica’s senior men’s national football team defeated Anguilla 1–0 at Windsor Park Stadium on Monday.
After a goalless first half, Cuffy found the breakthrough in the 49th minute to give Dominica the lead. The home side created several opportunities, particularly after halftime, but was unable to add to its advantage.
According to a press release, Head Coach Kurt Herd had cautioned before the match that Anguilla would present a difficult challenge. The visitors arrived with eight overseas-based players and a new head coach.
“It was never going to be an easy game,” Herd said. “I think people will try to look at Anguilla and think four or five, but Anguilla came here with overseas players, eight overseas players, coming here with a new head coach.”
Herd said Dominica struggled to establish its preferred style during the opening half as Anguilla proved difficult to break down.
“They were incredibly well organised and hard to break down. I thought we struggled with that in the first half. The boys weren’t accustomed to that. We didn’t play the game that we wanted to play.”
The coaching staff made changes at halftime, particularly regarding how the team approached possession.
“I thought the boys started to play the long ball a bit too much, and we just completely changed that at halftime in a sense of how we wanted to play, how we wanted to structure.”
The adjustments resulted in more chances for Dominica, although several opportunities went unfinished.
“Again, we created so many chances there, mostly in the second half, and we just couldn’t take it,” Herd said. “It’s a 1-0 game on paper, but it could have been anything from 7 or 8-1 to, you know, it was a crazy game.”
Herd said finishing remains an area of concern that the team must address ahead of its Concacaf Nations League campaign.
“Finishing was a concern anyway, to be honest,” he said. “We didn’t get any goals in the last trip that I had as the interim head coach, and it’s something that we spoke about.”
He added: “It’s clear for everybody to see after that that finishing is still a concern and we have to do something about that. That’s my job as a coach — to either bring in the players that can do that for us or work with the players we’ve got to get them confident in front of goal.”
Despite the missed chances, Herd was pleased to see Cuffy register his first international goal.
“On that, I was absolutely delighted to see Reon Cuffy get his first goal for the national team. The man deserves nothing more, and I can only praise and credit him.”
The match also marked an international debut for goalkeeper Dwight Eloi, who kept a clean sheet.
“Again, I just talked about Reon there, but there’s Dwight making his debut in goal, and Dwight keeps a clean sheet,” Herd said. “From minute one to minute 90, Dwight did exactly what he had to do. Maybe a little bit too excited at times, didn’t kill the game off when he had to, but Dwight’s done really well.”
Herd also pointed to the defensive challenge facing the team, with Dominica having to field a new-look back line in the absence of Titus Sandy.
“Keeping the clean sheet, especially with, you know, that’s a new back line again that we’re having to put together without Titus Sandy. So, delighted to keep the clean sheet.”
While pleased with the result, Herd said the team still has areas to work on before its upcoming competitive fixtures.
“Not too happy with one or two of the chances that we let go, but it gives us something to work on.”
