By Neto Baptiste
Coach of the Antigua and Barbuda senior men’s football team, Mikele Leigertwood, was reminded of the old football adage, ‘goals win games,’ following back-to-back losses to Dominica and Bermuda in Group D of League B in the Concacaf Nations League over the past four days.
The Benna Boys were beaten one-nil by Bermuda at the ABFA’s Technical Centre on Tuesday before going under 2-1 to Dominica on Saturday at the same venue.
Leigertwood noted that although the team created numerous opportunities to score, they were unable to convert.
“The game against Dominica and yesterday [Tuesday] against Bermuda was a game where we created lots of chances, and unfortunately we struggled to stick any of those or many of those away, so that’s an area of development that we really need to work on and try, and once we do get into those areas to try and make sure that we finish. We rode our luck a bit but we defended well for the most part, so it’s just the goal that we didn’t get so it’s just an area that we feel we need work on, and that’s something we will do right away,” he said.
The Benna Boys are sitting at the bottom of Group D, without a point after midfielder Kane Crichlow scored the lone goal for Bermuda in minute 56 on Tuesday to give the visitors their first win in the competition.
The England-based coach accepted ultimate responsibility for the team’s poor showings but also acknowledged what he thinks are some positives coming out for the team.
“Obviously I am going to be judged on results and winning games. I do think though that if you look at the squad this time around that it is slightly different and we’re looking at obviously not just the now, but obviously how we can develop players and you look at the age of the squad for these past few games; you can see that it’s significantly young but I am proud of the fact that we are now starting to [groom] some of the younger players to get experience playing at this level,” he said.
It was the first time since 1992 that Bermuda would have beaten Antigua and Barbuda in an official match.
The Dominican Republic heads the group with six points from their two matches, while Bermuda and Dominica sit second and third with three points each. Bermuda however, boasts a better goal difference than Dominica.
