– A double from Manasseh Primo helped Guyana’s footballers push aside French Guiana as the Inter-Guiana Games football competition continued yesterday
From Kiev Chesney in Suriname
Manasseh Primo found the back of the net on two spectacular occasions to help Guyana overcome a 0-1 deficit and forge to a 3-1 victory over French Guiana (Cayenne) as the football competition of the 2008 Inter-Guiana Games continued yesterday at the Andre Kamperveen Stadium here.
Guyana struggled to move the ball around in the early stages of the match and their forwards could not get enough touches much less string along a set of passes.
Added to that, persistent counter-attacks from the
side which fell to Suriname by seven goals on Friday, caught the ‘Junior Jaguars’ by surprise.
After a few futile attempts early, the French punished Guyana when Bernard Daniel dribbled two defenders and evaded custodian Richie Richards to score in an open goal in the 33rd minute.
The `Junior Jaguars’ did not stay down for long as team captain Andrew Murray jnr., pushed a true-ball to Primo who shook a defender out of his hoses before finding the back of the net in the 37th minute.
The game remained dead-even at half-time at which time the guidance of their experienced and trusted coach, Wayne Dover, helped the team to refocus.
“At half-time I realized that this was the first big tour for a lot of
the players so nervousness may have got the better of them,” Dover told Stabroek Sport afterwards.
“After trailing 0-1 early, it was not much of a concern for me as the coach, and I explained to them that all they needed to do was to regain their focus and implement the systems that they practiced,” he added.
Dover’s words took immediate effect and a re-energized and
more coordinated Junior Jaguars squad took to the field in the second half.
Murray decided to operate from midfield, and once again engineered a brilliant goal when he connected with the sweet-footed Primo.
The chemistry between the two players was exhibited throughout the match as Primo capitalized on Murray’s passed on four occasions, two of which were waved off as off-side goals.
But Guyana sealed the deal in the 90th minutes when Chris Comacho cleaned up a rebound after the French goalkeeper could not handle a blast from Primo.
The Junior Jaguars will take on Suriname later today in their final match at the same venue.