KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – Two late goals by Mario Harte earned Barbados a come-from-behind 2-2 draw with St Vincent and the Grenadines in their international friendly at Victoria Park here Friday night.
The visitors seemed headed for defeat after trailing 0-2 with eight minutes left in regular time until Harte netted twice in the space of eight minutes to earn his side a share of the honours.
The result ensured that Barbados remained unbeaten against their Eastern Caribbean neighbours this year. Back in March, they beat SVG 3-1 and then drew 2-2 in a weekend doubleheader in Bridgetown.
In a warm-up game for their upcoming World Cup qualifier against Aruba, SVG took the lead four minutes before half-time when Garvin James scored.
They took the lead into half-time but had to wait until the 71st minute before doubling their advantage when Tevin Slater also got on the scoresheet.
With time ticking away, Harte halved the lead in the 82nd minute before drawing his side level with another clinical finish six minutes later.
Barbados were good enough to advance to the third round of the 2018 World Cup when they beat 1-0 in the second leg of their tie in Bridgetown, following their 2-0 victory in the first leg in Oranjestad.
However, they were subsequently dumped from the competition by football’s world governing body, FIFA, for fielding an ineligible player in the second leg.