Audley Boyd, Assistant Sport Editor

Jamaica midfielder Richard Langley (left) makes a cross ahead of The Bahamas' Cameron Hepple in yesterday's second-leg World Cup qualifier at the Trelawny stadium - photo by Adrian Frater

FALMOUTH, Trelawny:

JAMAICA MAINTAINED their tennis-like scoreline over the Bahamas to complete the formality of advancing past the CONCACAF second-round 2010 World Cup qualifying hurdle, with a 6-0 thumping of their rivals in a historic football match at the multi-purpose stadium in Trelawny yesterday.

Luton Shelton scored a hat-trick (35th, 37th and 42nd) in seven minutes to lead all scorers. Deon Burton hit a brace (30th and 56th) and defender Tyrone Marshall accounted for the other goal at the 40th minute for the Boyz, who will play alongside already qualified Honduras and most likely Mexico and Canada in the next stage of the elimination series - the semi-finals from which two will advance.

"It was really hard to break them down and get the first goal," captain Ricardo Gardner said. "It was a good result to have scored six goals. Hopefully, we can take this into the next round and improve on our quality," he said.

Tough game

Bahamian midfielder Gavin Christie said: "As we expected, it was a very tough game and it's a stepping stone for Bahamas football."

The Reggae Boyz hardly got a good workout and did all the ball playing in both halves of the field. For more than 70 per cent of the first half, play was concentrated in the Bahamas' half and most of the other times, the Jamaican defence and central midfielders were handling the ball in their own half.

Despite the domination of possession, Jamaica took quite a while to score against a team that was simply no match as the Bahamas could not pass well enough to keep the ball, were poorly positioned in defensive sequences and lacked composure.

While they easily asserted authority, the Jamaicans, having hammered the very weak opponents 7-0 in Sunday's first leg at the National Stadium, were just too eager to get off the mark and in the rush for goals, they ended up playing too many bad passes when they were under no pressure.

Much of the ball-wasting took place around the penalty area with crosses that were either too low and easily cleared by the defenders, too long, or the strikers were off target.

Burst open

When the Jamaicans started to connect passes with fluidity, the floodgates burst open and goals came in a rush.

The quality of the play that resulted in five goals in 12 minutes between the 30th and 42nd was pleasing to the eye, largely due to the precisely measured one-touch passing that resulted in first-time finishes twice and as many one-on-one opportunities that the speedy Shelton buried. He also scored a penalty.

Burton, a minute after slipping the ball wide of goal, started the rout at the 29th with a play that started from the right flank with Evan Taylor, Shelton, Marshall and Andy Williams combining. The latter's neat flick gave Burton a side-footed finish for goal.

Shelton rounded Bahamas' best player, goalkeeper Dwayne Whylly, to double the score at the 35th and incisive passer Williams sent Ricardo Gardner free with a free kick, only to see his captain brought down to set up the penalty and Shelton's third goal at the 37th.

The Bahamas' naivety showed up on the fourth goal at the 40th when Gardner's short corner to Williams was played in a straight line to Marshall at the top of the six-yard box to finish, before Shelton got another run through to complete the first half scoring.

Whipped well wide

Unlike the first half when Bahamas' only play near Jamaica's goal was a corner kick whipped well wide at the 20th minute, they made more advances to Jamaica's goal in the second stanza and actually forced scrambling goalside saves by central defender Jermaine Taylor, with goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts - who spent most of the game watching like the people in the stands - already beaten.

The close to 10,000 who turned out to watch the first football World Cup qualifier at the Trelawny stadium, which was actually the first senior international ball game played in the west for over a decade, could not have been blamed for expecting another goal fest in the second half, but the promise dissipated into more 'oohs' and 'aahs' than anything else, with Whylly the star and a host of Jamaicans missing out on a scoresheet mention.