St Kitts and Nevis finished their participation in Group B of the Digicel Cup with a hard fought 4-0 win against an improving Montserrat side. This leaves the Kittitians in the hands of the Gods as they need a clear winner in the second game of the night in order for them to proceed.
As was the case on Friday, Montserrat started the brightest and after 5 minutes Steve Stewart somehow let the ball run into the keepers hands after Julian Wade had connected with a corner from Kenneth Dyer to present the most golden of chances for Stewart from 2 yards which he somehow squandered.
Sure enough the leaky defence of Montserrat was opened up on 17 minutes after a beautiful passing move when George Isaac found Jevon Francis who had dropped off the back 4, turned and passed into Alexis Saddler who came racing in from the left to confidently strike past Sweeny in the Montserrat goal.
If the first was a good team goal the second which arrived 3 minutes later was individual brilliance when Keith Gumbs smashed a 20 yard free kick past a poorly position Sweeny and it all seemed so easy.
The third came ironically enough after Montserrat had their best shot on goal from Julian Wade but the pace of the St Kitts break led to Isaac squaring to saddler from the right to slide in and pick up his second of the game rolling the ball under Sweeny.
The second half was the finest display by Montserrat of the tournament to date as they kept St Kitts at bay for 45 minutes but let their concentration lapse at the death as Ian Lake converted with a right foot volley from a beautifully flighted Joel Jeffers cross from the right in injury time at the end of the first half.
While Montserrat did have chances through Farrell and Wade to break their duck and register a goal for the team in the tournament, in the end some good goal keeping, bad luck and woeful finishing kept them at bay.
A fair result at the end of the match but the fate of St. Kitts is now out of their hands. Although unbeaten to date they lie on 5 points after 3 games, with a goal difference of +4, a point ahead of both Barbados and St. Vincent who both have a stronger goal difference. Knowing that Cayman Islands came second in Group A with 4 points, St Kitts can only hope for a clear winner, anything less will send the other two sides through to stage 2 of this year’s Digicel Caribbean Cup.
