Audley Boyd, Assistant Sport Editor

Jamaica's Marlon King (second left) outpaces St Vincent and the Grenadines defenders during last night's friendly at the National Stadium. King struck twice in the hosts' 5-1 victory. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

RENé SIMOES' main goal was to reshape his team.

The technical director and head coach of Jamaica's football flagbearers did that and got even more as Marlon King hit a double to lead the Reggae Boyz in a comprehensive 5-1 victory over St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in their friendly inter-national at 'The Office' last night.

4-4-2 formation

King (27th pen, 42nd), Demar Phillips (17th), Deon Burton (74th) and Ricardo Gardner (88th) scored for Jamaica, while Marlon James netted for the eastern Caribbean team in the 57th minute.

Jamaica played with three central defenders for the first time in a long while, switching the problematic 4-4-2 formation they have been trying and it paid huge dividends - albeit against a team ranked 145th by FIFA -- as they only gave up one real scoring opportunity, which was taken in the second half.

As they extended their preparations for a 2010 World Cup qualifying debut against the Bahamas here on June 15, the Boyz secured a huge win that they hope will enhance their current ranking of 105.

Newcomers in squad

In the fine-tuning exercise with selections from a 30-odd man squad, Simoes used 17 players, including newcomers Evan Taylor from Reno and sweeper Simon Ford from Scotland's Kilmarnock and Andy Williams, in his first game back since the 2005 Gold Cup, who all almost got a full 90 minutes.

Regular central midfielder Rudolph Austin played at right full back, while Ian Phillips gave Jamaica the lead by firing inside the near post from the top of the penalty box at the 17th minute. Goodison was solid in the centre and Adrian Reid took no chances.

See more reports in tomorrow's Gleaner Sport section.