Trinidad and Tobago moved to to six points in the group standings in the second round of 2014 World Cup qualification by way of a 2-0 victory over Barbados in their second encounter at the National Stadium in Bridgetown on Tuesday evening.

Goals by United States-based midfielder Keon Daniel  (17th)and Darryl Roberts (67th) ensured the “Soca Warriors” collected maximum points on what turned out to be a not so attractive football match on a hard and uneven surface at the Stadium in Waterford. (photo shows Daniel netting the opener)

Guyana meantime won their second match at home, overcoming Bermuda 2-1. T&T will meet Bermuda there on October 7 and then host Barbados four days later.

T&T head coach Otto Pfister later reiterated the point that the job was to secure three points despite the lack of a top notch performance against stubborn opponents who had lost their opener 2-0 to Guyana in Georgetown.

Jones’ opening attempt at goal was not the most inspiring after he picked up on a loose ball near the box and moved goalwards before directing his effort harmlessly over bar when better placement should have put T&T ahead early in the match.

But  not long after, Daniel put the visitors ahead with a well taken goal from a nicely orchestrated build up on the right. Jones, after collecting from Hayden Tinto, slipped one through for Daniel and the Philadelphia Union man kept his composure to neatly slot past goalkeeper Jason Boxhill.

That goal settled the T&T eleven which saw Clyde Leon and Daniel as well as goalkeeper Marvin Phillip coming into the starting team at the expense of Khaleem Hyland, the rested Stern John and Anthony Warner. Jones was the lone man up top with Roberts to his left and Tinto on the  right while Seon Power and Julius James controlled the middle of the defense ably supported by Anthony Wolfe on the right and Carlos Edwards on the other end. Chris Birchall and Leon took care of
things in the middle with Daniel in the left midfield position.

Barbados looked less likely to cause much of a panic for the T&T defense even though Phillip did have to pull off a superb save, diving to his left to push out an effort by captain Norman Forde in the 74th minute.

On 32 minutes, Jones was sent through by Tinto but tried to round the ‘keeper and overpushed before he could get a shot off.  Power also had a header blocked near the goal line by a defender from a Daniel left side corner.

Like the first half, the second half began in a less than frenzied pace with T&T still trying to move the ball around the deck and the “Bajans” struggled to compete for possession. Roberts goal came at a good time for the visitors. Jones and Tinto played a one two on the edge of the box before the latter found Daniel wide on the left. He floated one over and Jones headed downwards and  Roberts to force over the goal line after Boxhill failed to hold on to Jones’ attempt.
Edwards had another effort and Daniel’s free kick saw Boxhill saving low on his left post.

There were no injuries or cards to report for the T&T players. It may not have been a pretty performance but the job coming into the encounter was to secure three points and it was completed without much of a tussle.

The T&T team returns home at 6pm on Wednesday with the overseas-based players flying out to their respective destinations.

Head coach Otto Pfister in his post match comments told TTFF Media.

“It’s not easy playing away but today I thought we played again a little bit better. Today I changed the organization and we started with a 4-3-3 formation with
Phillip, Clyde and Daniel coming into the first team. We dominated the game. Last Sunday Kenwyne Jones scored and today he gave the last two passes for the goals. I am satisfied with the performance. Now we have six points but we have to work very seriously for the next set of matches because we have to top this group and we need to stay unbeaten.

“We had a good mix of local and overseas players. Today Power was the best player on the field and he is a local player. And I was also very  happy with James. Today he played a perfect game. All these boys were okay and Daniel was also very good. At the end of the game when were leading 2-0 I give a chance to Hyland also.”

Skipper Kenwyne Jones added : “Six points in two matches is what we entered these matches aiming for and we have achieved that. There is always room for improvement and as a team we know what is needed. We know where we are heading or where we want to go and that’s the important thing. I think now we can assess these two matches and prepare as we need to for the upcoming matches. It wasn’t an easy match because of the conditions but we were able to overcome that obstacle and that’s a plus for this team. We can only get better now especially for the stronger oppositions in the future.”

Goalscorer Darryl Roberts was also elated, now having three goals in as many matches for T&T.

“Everytime I go out there my aim is to do my best for the country. I wasn’t too happy with the last match but we went out there and did a job. I felt great being able to get the second goal because it was at a point in the match where we really needed to increase our advantage and push on further.”

Midfielder Keon Daniel felt the T&T team demonstrated a kind of fight in them that was necessary.

“We know that teams like Barbados will run all they can to try to make things hard for you.  But we stuck to our game and we put away two chances even though it would have been better to get a couple more goals. Personally I was pleased with the performance. Now we need to ensure we maintain our focus for the other games and take things further in terms of securing the points and finishing the group on a high.”

T&T start team:
Marvin Phillip, Seon Power, Julius James, Anthony Wolfe, Carlos Edwards, Chris Birchall (Khaleem Hyland, 67th), Keon Daniel, Hayden Tinto (Densill Theobald, 90th) Darryl Roberts (Lester Peltier, 76th) Kenwyne Jones and Clyde Leon. Subs not used – Anthony Warner, Andre Boucaud, Carlyle Mitchell, Akeem Adams.