Soca Warriors coach Yorke: We have a lot of work to do

FOR the second time in four nights, the Soca Warriors were hampered by conceding a late goal, as they settled for a 1-1 draw with Jamaica in the second match of their friendly series at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex in Kingston on February 9.

TT took the lead in the 29th minute, as Jamaican-based central defender Josiah Trimmingham headed in after striker Nathaniel James floated a threatening corner towards the back post.

Just past the hour mark, coach Dwight Yorke made wholesale changes, with as many as nine substitutions. In the fourth minute of stoppage-time, the burly Trimmingham turned from hero to villain as he inadvertently sent an attempted clearance past Soca Warriors substitute goalkeeper Jabari St Hillaire after attacker Kimani Arbouine sent a header towards goal.

St Hillaire, one of six Defence Force players in the squad, had only come on 13 minutes earlier for veteran goalie Marvin Phillip.

Yorke said it was a disappointing way for his team to end a contest where he felt they deserved a victory.

However, he was pleased with the team’s showing over the two games although he was just robbed of getting his first international victory since taking over the TT men’s team last November.

“We have a lot of work to do and the players understand that. We will continue to make sure the players work in the right way in terms of getting to the level we’re trying to get to,” Yorke said, at the post-match presser.

Yorke said the team was trending in the right direction and he was satisfied with the desire and the adaptability his players showed in a short space of time as they buy into his philosophy and his staff’s.

“It takes some time for us to get there, but we’re headed in the right direction with another positive step.”

In the sixth minute, TT had their first scare when Jalmaro Calvin went on a mazy run into the box before he was stopped in his tracks by defender Justin Garcia.

For the second straight game, TT started with a 5-3-2 formation, with Garcia, Trimmingham and Darnell Hospedales all retaining their spots in defence.

Miscellaneous Police FC playmaker Joevin Jones effectively took Kevin Molino’s place in the starting XI, and he was arguably TT’s brightest player in the first half as he tried to orchestrate from deep in midfield.

“We have a way how we want to play and stick to our game plan. We found that if we could possess the ball a little bit against Jamaica and frustrate them a little bit, then it will open up for us,” Yorke said.

“Once we came through that first ten-15 minute spell, then we came into our own and you could see the players growing in confidence as they went ahead.”

Garcia was a busy man in the first half, as he headed over bar from a Jones set piece at one end before clearing off line in the 27th minute after the Jamaicans made a dangerous raid down the left.

Two minutes later, the Soca Warriors were celebrating the opener when Trimmingham beat Jashaun Anglin in an aerial battle to head past goalkeeper Jahmali White.

In the 44th minute, James missed a chance to double the Soca Warriors lead when he fired wide from a tight spot after the defence failed to clear a Hospedales cross.

The Soca Warriors never regained their midfield fluency in the second half, and that task was possibly made harder when Yorke made a bevy of changes after the hour mark.

Yorke said the changes were all part of the plan, as he wanted to give the players ample time to show their worth.

“We know exactly who’s playing, who isn’t playing and who needs time. That was planned from before. We don’t second guess what we do. We sit down and we go through every detail,” he said.

“If I could have made 11 substitutions at the 60-minute mark, I would have done so. Unfortunately, it kinda disrupted us a little bit, but we eventually got back in it.”

Neither team hit their full stride in a stop-start second half, but the hosts did get half-chances.

In the 71st minute, Arbouine inexplicably shot over bar from close range after a corner from Demario Phillips found him in space near the six-yard box.

It wasn’t the last the Soca Warriors defence saw of Arbouine, and he and his teammates were ecstatic when Trimmingham stuck out a boot to redirect the former’s header past a hapless St Hillaire.

“This is another learning curve. We felt that we had done enough to win the game. I’m sure the fans looking on at the game would have felt we were a slightly better team,” Yorke said.

He said the players were disappointed, but they recognise more work is needed to ensure they stop leaking goals at the death.

The Soca Warriors conceded an 84th-minute goal from Sue-Lae McCalla as the “Reggae Boyz” won the first friendly 1-0 on February 6.

Yorke said his team needs improvement when out of possession, as the players tend to switch off.

“Being an ex-player, I kinda understand that no matter what manager comes in, if the players aren’t focusing on implementing your ideas, it’s going to be a struggle. It’s very encouraging, even though it’s a short space of time, the players have really shown the effort and the energy.”

With the Soca Warriors’ next assignment being the March 21 and 25 Concacaf Gold Cup preliminary matchup with Cuba, Yorke said he and his technical staff must now put their heads together to ensure they pick the strongest team possible.