Antigua and Barbuda Benna Boys recorded their second win in as many matches in Group A of the Concacaf Nations League when, on Sunday, they beat Guadeloupe 1-0 in their League B clash in St Kitts.
Playing at the Warner Park facility, England-based winger Myles Weston managed to outpace a Guadeloupe defender before advancing into the penalty and slamming a low effort into the back of the net in minute 55.
Speaking after the match, Weston said he realised early in the contest that he could exploit his opponent’s weaknesses to gain an advantage for Antigua and Barbuda.
“I felt like the left-sided center-back was a weak link in their defense. In the first half I took him on once and had a shot but it went a little bit over [the goal] so I thought that in the second half I wanted to take him on a lot more and that’s what I did. I took him on, drove through and shot on target and luckily I scored,” he said.
The victory, which follows their 1-0 triumph over Barbados last Thursday, lifts Antigua and Barbuda to the top of the standings with six points after their two showings. The loss was Guadeloupe’s first in two showings as they slip to third in the standings with three points. Cuba lay second with three points also after two outings.
The Benna Boys will next play Cuba on 9 June in St Kitts before flying to Cuba for the away contest on 12 June.
Weston said they must prepare well for their next set of matches against the more organised Cubans.
“One game at a time. We don’t want to think too far into the future so we’re just taking one game at a time and trying to get in some good preparation, get some good rest and prepare right for the two games against Cuba and hopefully we get six points. I believe you’ve got to respect every team you play and I don’t feel like any team’s easy. I feel like you’ve got to respect everyone so we’ve got faith in the coaches, in the team and once we prepare right I feel like we’ll get the results that we want,” he said.
In other matches played in Sunday, French Guiana defeated Dominican Republic 3-2, Cuba beat Barbados 3-0, Guatemala defeated Belize 2-0, Costa Rica beat Martinique 2-0, while Anguilla and Dominica played to a 1-1 draw.