by EZRA STUART

BARBADOS women's Under-20 team did the country proud with a classy 1-0 victory over St Vincent and the Grenadines in their first ever overseas football international match at Victoria Park in Kingstown on Sunday.

Midfielder Giselle Fields, a 16-year-old student of Ellerslie School, was the heroine for Barbados with the match-winning goal in the 23rd minute.

The young Barbadian girls, who defeated the Vincentians 2-0 in their inaugural match at the National Stadium last month, played with a lot of grit and determination and showed great maturity to maintain their two-match unbeaten international record.

"They were really nervous in the first 15 to 20 minutes but that was understandable. They were playing away from home and in front of a packed Vincentian crowd. But after Giselle scored the goal, everyone started to settle down and really started knocking the ball around," manager Ytannia Wiggins told NATIONSPORT in an interview after the team returned home.

"Captain Joelle Gibson really stepped up to the plate and led from the front in defence. Tianna Hackett and Soraya Carrington-Herbert did really well in midfield.

"Soraya was all over, defending and attacking when needed. Tianna also had a beautiful free-kick and unfortunately it struck the crossbar but the whole Vincentian Stadium went wild over it," added Wiggins.

The manager said the Bajan lasses won the hearts of the Vincentian spectators with the standard of their play.

"When we first went on the field, they were backing the Vincies, quite naturally, but when we started playing, there were people actually shouting for us.

"Overall, the girls performed really creditably for such a young team and playing against an experienced team such as St Vincent, who have a world ranking.

"St Vincent also used their senior team goalkeeper and they flew in two Vincentian girls who played for the Barbados Women's Football Academy for the game," Wiggins noted.

Wiggins said national training would continue for the team on Sunday and there could be a few more international matches before year-end.

"We are preparing for the FIFA World Cup Under-20 qualifiers next year from July to October, so we will go back to training on Sunday while we are trying to organise a few more matches. Martinique have already expressed an interest in coming to Barbados to play a friendly international," she said. l ezrastuart @nationnews.com