Trinidad deserved something, laments Lawrence

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Head coach Dennis Lawrence believes Trinidad and Tobago deserved at least a point from their World Cup qualifier against Mexico last Tuesday.
The hosts crashed to a narrow 1-0 defeat to the CONCACAF giants after having a goal wrongfully disallowed for off-side in the 32^nd minute.
And while Lawrence conceded his side had not played well enough to win the contest, he contended a share of the points would have been a more just result.
“I didn’t think we did enough to win the game but I also felt we did enough to get something out of the game,” the former national defender said.
“I think we were a bit unlucky with the goal that we scored — it was clearly onside from what I saw. I can’t fault the boys for effort. The only thing [as] I said to them is that sometimes we have to believe how good we can be.
“We spoke about things before the game [but] we go into the game and we allowed the Mexico team to get too much control of the game. As soon as we won the ball, we gave it back to them …”
He added: “In terms of our organisation, our structure defensively … it was difficult to break us down in open play but we didn’t do enough to take the game to the other end, we didn’t test their keeper enough so I felt we fell short in that aspect but in terms of losing the game, I think we did enough to get something out of the game.”
T&T thought they were ahead in the first half when Joevin Jones, on the left, picked up Kevin Molino’s pass and burst into the box before unleashing an explosive volley into the back of the nets.
The goal was ruled offside by Jamaican referee Valdin Legister even though replays showed Jones was a couple yards behind the last defender when the ball was played.
Diego Reyes settled the game in the 58^th minute, however, nodding home strongly from the centre of the box following a right-sided corner.
Despite the defeat, Lawrence said there were positives to be taken from the game, which could help Trinidad in the future.
“We are obviously starting to get that belief in ourselves slowly. We played a very, very good Mexican team. They are obviously very confident and capable in their abilities in managing the game and keeping possession of the ball and we matched them in a lot of the aspects of the game.
“So in terms of progression, I can take a lot of confidence and faith in our organisation and trying to understand the things we wanted to do.”
The defeat left Trinidad and Tobago bottom of the CONCACAF qualifying final round, with tough road fixtures against United States and Costa Rica looming in June.