Guyana’s Golden Jaguars played to a goalless draw with an Upper Demerara selection on Sunday evening at the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground.

It was the Jaguars’ first game since playing in last year’s Digicel Caribbean championship where they were booted out in the second round.

The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has since said that they would be rebuilding the squad from the bottom up and they have placed Paul James at the helm of the team as they prepare for next month’s participation in the Parbo Bier Cup in Suriname.

According to James he was satisfied with the team’s first game as a unit but noted that while they have been paying a lot of emphasis on their defensive line, they were miserable in finishing which he said had cost Guyana dearly in the past.

“To me we should have scored about four or five goals alone in the first half because we had the chances, plenty of it as well. So this is an area which I would be working hard on in our few more practice sessions,” the coach said, during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport after the game.

The national coach said that one of the aims of the game in Linden was to give him an opportunity to see what the players from the mining town had to offer but he was unhappy with the makeup of the unit.

“It’s either the national team was very good or the Linden team was very poor. I was surprised because we can’t really point out any one right now who we would draft in….if you look at Linden’s football, after Collie Hercules, Charles ‘Lilly’ Pollard and Kayode McKinnon and so on, you can’t really see a top quality player from the area, so some work should be done there,” added James.

He was happy that his objectives were met during the game and said while the last four defensive lines were excellent; the midfield was a bit questionable.

James praised the leadership and stability that centre back Howard Lowe brought to the squad.

Lowe has been a prominent player in the Golden Jaguars line-up and he is popularly known for forming the twin tower with Guyana’s former national skipper Charles Pollard.

The defensive stalwart has also enjoyed an illustrious career playing professionally in Trinidad and Tobago and James said that the player has demanded a lot of respect from the younger players in the side.

“Lowe is Lowe and what he has brought to this young bunch and his knowledge of the game is a big asset to the team as well because even though we have a few players who have had some stints with the previous national team, I think he is only one who I consider a senior national player,” James said.

But James said that some seniority was lacking in the area of the strikers.

This was evident during the game on Sunday with most of the shots being taken by new striker Warren Gilkes although his shots came from way outside of the 18-yard box.

However the coach said he was not unmindful that they did not have the light of day to score against any quality goal keeper.

James said that a few of the players who were originally called to the squad did not show up including national striker Dwight Peters whom he would have loved to have on his side leading up to the Parbo Bier Cup.

Nevertheless the Jaguars head coach was optimistic that the players who are in the squad will give a good account of themselves and said he was expecting nothing short of victory.

The squad of 20 players will be announced on Friday and would depart on June 1 for Suriname to compete against the hosts, Antigua and French Guiana.