Barbados coach Eyre Sealy made a gutsy call to give one of his most diminutive players a chance against big and burly opposition, and it made him look like a football genius at Kensington Oval yesterday.
With 20 minutes remaining in a game in which Barbados dominated but simply could not convert possession into goal-scoring, little striker Dwayne Stanford earned hero status ten minutes from time, scoring to push Barbados into the second stage of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Urged on by a surprisingly large crowd for a 3 p.m. start, and accompanied by a Mac Fingall led tuk-band, Mexican waves and even a trumpeter, Barbados had dominated Dominca in the first football match played at the rebuilt mecca of cricket, but had nothing to show for it.
Things appeared to get worse for the Bajans when one of their better players on the day, Jeffrey Williams, was red-carded for violent conduct, but Stanford, 27, came to the rescue, scoring his most important goal yet in ultramarine and gold.
On the field for just 12 minutes, Stanford collected a pin-point pass from midfield maestro and captain Norman Forde, drifted past one defender, and placed a low, firm shot into the left corner of goal.
The fans erupted, Stanford ran to the corner flag to celebrate on his knees, his teammates followed in a heap, and Barbados' passage was secure.
The Bajans, renked 137th in FIFA's world rankings, then treated the fans to some pretty possession football, using the width of the Oval ground to play keep-away from a Dominca team that had been sturdy at most in defence, but quite unimaginative in offence.
The players of the game were Forde, who proved his importance as the country's best player once again, and Dominican goal-keeper Glenson Prince, who had proven to be impassable in goal before Stanford's clinical strike.
Next up for Barbados is the United States, CONCACAF champions, and the same team that ousted them from World Cup action after their dream run to the final qualifying round in 1998. The Bajans will first travel to Los Angeles on June 16, where they will face the world's 28th ranked team at the Home Depot Centre, just outside Carson City, and the home of David Beckham's LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer fame.
They then host the Americans in the return leg on June 22 at Kensington Oval.
Technical director Keith Griffith had promised to quit had Barbados not won the match, and his team came out with a bang, apparently not wanting their head's words to fall to the ground.
Just four minutes in they created the first chance of the game, and it was then that Dominican goalie Prince proved he really wanted to be a king, parrying Jonathan Forte's shot for a corner.
Prince continued to keep his side in the match, with five clean saves. He twice stopped long-range shots from Forde, parried two more by Bryan Neblett, and the save of the match, a low stop from another blast by Forte.
The stop of Forte's shot proved to be the highlight of the half, a neat triangle move between Forde, Emmerson Boyce and Jeffrey Williams, which ended with Forte having the goal at his mercy from ten yards, and Prince diving low to his right to save.
The second half, proved to be quite contentious, with Barbados continuing to push forward, and the frustrated Dominicans retaliating with physical play, using their size to push around the Bajans.
It all peaked in the 59th minute when Williams' stamp on defender Delbert Daily earned him a red card from Guatemalan referee Carlos Batres. Seconds later Dominican captain Colin Bernard was given his marching orders for similar violent conduct. In total, two red cards and five yellows were shown by Batres.