By Orin Davidson
Two goalkeeping errors killed Guyana’s chances for their first win of the Digicel New York Caribbean Cup football competition on Sunday.
The goalkeeping errors resulted in a 1-2 defeat for Guyana at the hands of St Lucia at the Jefferson High School ground in Brooklyn.
Jermaine Scott scored for Guyana in the eighth minute but St. Lucia replied early in the second half with a strike from Chad Renette in the 50th minute.
Five minutes later Phillip Fissson put St. Lucia ahead for good with the second goal.
The Guyana contingent was crestfallen after the game with manager Karl Younge lamenting the lapses in goal. The loss meant Guyana will have to win at least two of their remaining three group matches against Jamaica, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, to stay in contention for the semi-finals playoff.
Following a nil all draw with Haiti in their first game, Guyana strengthened their team by drafting in former national defender Jermain Smartt and midfielder Phillip Hudson.
They showed their urgent intentions from the first whistle and were rewarded when an ex national forward Scott, scored from a set piece, booting the ball to goal from a well-taken corner.
St. Lucia stood firm for the remainder of the half as Guyana pressed hard to increase the lead.
The beginning of the end for Guyana when Renette picked up a loose ball that spilled from the goalkeeper’s grass after he fell on a slippery field and from eight metres out, struck the ball into an open goal.
Shortly afterwards another rebound from the goalkeeper found an unmarked Fisson who blasted the ball into the goal.
