BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMCEIGHT-TIME Caribbean champions Trinidad & Tobago maintained their football stranglehold on traditional sporting rivals Barbados to clinch third in the Digicel Caribbean Cup with a hard fought 3-2 victory on Thursday.
In a highly competitive match that featured end-to-end drama, the Soca Warriors claimed the Caribbean Football Union's final place at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July in the United States.
The Soca Warriors got the better of the early exchanges and were rewarded in the 12th minute when forward Conrad Smith weaved his way through the Barbados defence and beat Barbados netminder Bernard Howell with a modest effort.
LEAD DOUBLES
T&T doubled their lead in the 31st minute when striker Cornell Glenn got away from Barbados defender Rommell Brathwaite and ran onto Smith's threaded ball to hit a firm shot under the advancing Howell.
In previous years against T&T, Barbados would have put their tails between their legs and whimpered away, but they again showed great fighting spirit and got themselves back into the match a couple of minutes later.
After having an earlier free kick palmed over the bar by T&T
custodian Durance Williams, Barbados captain Norman Forde was provided with a time and space on the right flank from a
triangular offensive move and cut the deficit with a ferocious left-footed, 35-yard drive.
T&T still enjoyed a 2-1 half-time lead, but the game never reached the same level of intensity in the opening phase of the second half.
Both teams were guilty of several unforced errors, as T&T were quite prepared to sit back on their lead, and allow the Barbadians to fight for the equaliser.
This all changed in the 75th minute, when T&T won a free kick just outside the right-side of the Barbados penalty area.
Soca Warriors captain Angus Eve, one of three changes to the T&T starting line-up, gave Howell no chance with a well-conceived free kick ñ David Beckham style ñ that sailed over the Barbados defensive wall.
The Barbadians were still not prepared to accept the inevitable and continued attacking, and put one final twist on the game, when Ryan Lucas neatly put away a Llewellyn Riley cross from the left-side of the T&T box four minutes from the final whistle.
