PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands – On the heels of an 8-2 defeat to Sint Maarten a few days ago, the Turks and Caicos Islands recovered to win the rematch 2-0 and claim their first victory of this edition of the Concacaf Nations League in Group A of League C.
Having jumped all over the TCI a few days ago, Sint Maarten clearly tried to replicate that result in the early going. They pushed forward and tried to feed Gerwin Lake, who had four goals and three assists in the last match, but Turks and Caicos GK Sebastian Turbyfield stood firm and was able to stop them all, notching five saves before the first cooling break even rolled around.
Lake’s top pedigree counterpart on the other side, Billy Forbes, had a few decent chances just before halftime for the home team, but he, too, was kept in check for the first half.
Turks and Caicos struck quickly after the break for the first goal, as Raymond Burey made a spectacular run down the left wing, carving through several defenders before centering the ball to Junior Paul, who dribbled past Sint Maarten GK Gikay Croes to net his second goal of the tournament and put Turks and Caicos in front after 48 minutes.
In the 70th minute Forbes sent in a fine pass towards the center of the penalty area that left Paul with little work to do; he calmly converted the chance and put the hosts ahead 2-0.
That proved to be the final scoreline, meaning the hosts were able to strike a big blow to Sint Maarten’s promotion hopes. Sint Maarten now sit second with five points, five behind pace-setters Bonaire with just two matches left to play. Turks and Caicos remain in fourth, now with three points.
The match was also noteworthy for another reason: for the first time in the history of the Concacaf Nations League, all four officials were women. Congratulations to head official Myriam Marcotte (Canada) and the rest of her team, Marie-han Gagnon Chetien (Canada) Shirley Perello (Honduras), Odette Hamilton (Jamaica) on this historic achievement.
