Bajans love cou cou on Saturdays but the national senior women’s hockey players weren’t in an eating mood yesterday morning at the Wildey Hockey Turf.
But they were still left with a bitter taste in their mouths when they were served some callalloo as Trinidad and Tobago triumphed 1-0 over goal-shy Barbados in their Tri-Nation Women’s Hockey Series match.
During a two-minute period of relentless pressure, the Trinidadians forced three short corners and scored what turned out to be the winning goal, courtesy a 39th-minute strike by Brianna Govia.
Goalkeeper Kristina Hinds-Harrison pulled off a series of saves but the defence let her down in not efficiently clearing the lines during a melee in the box.
The loose ball fell nicely into the path of Govia and she confidently scooped her shot through the crowded defence into the back of the goal bars.
Barbados had their fair share of scoring opportunities but weren’t clinical in the “D”, as captain Ayanna Wilson and veteran Cher King were thwarted by the Trinidadian defence.
Barbados had a golden chance to grab the equaliser in the dying moments, but King, after taking out the Trinidadian custodian, missed a reverse stick shot. Wilson seemed to be in a better goal-scoring position but could only watch as King’s shot went agonisingly wide of the open goal bars.
Before that, Barbados’ best chance came early in the second quarter when Aleina Stanford intercepted a weak pass from T&T’s co-captain Amie Olton and only had the advancing goalkeeper to beat. Stanford had the option of dribbling the custodian but hurried her shot, which was blocked.
The result left Barbados without a win in the first two games, after a 1-1 draw on Thursday with Guyana, who defeated Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 in their opening match.
“There were a lot of positives in this game. We stuck to our game plan,” Barbados coach Donovan Smith told Sunsport “[However] we missed opportunities. Goals win games. We have to capitalise on our chances.”
“We will regroup and do a debriefing of this game and then see what we have to work on improving.
“It is all a stepping stone for [the upcoming CAC Games] in Colombia. We will see where the kinks in the armour are and will know we have got to patch those kinks.”
Smith said Barbados are capable of defeating Trinidad and Tobago, who he said scored off their lone shot.
“We defended well, we attacked well, we just didn’t capitalise on our opportunities. So it is just putting that killer instinct into the players, letting them know it is time to take your opportunities.” (EZS)
