PARAMARIBO, Suriname, (CMC) – Guyana staved off a late comeback from the Netherland Antilles to snatch full points while two first half goals saw Suriname also make a winning start to Group C of the Digicel Caribbean Cup on Friday night.
Playing at the Andre Kamperveen Stadium, Guyana carved out a 3-2 win over the Dutch side while Suriname beat St Lucia 2-1 in the feature game of the double-header.
Guyana and Suriname will now meet in a thrilling tie today to see who tops the group en route to the second stage of the competition.
On Friday, Guyana wasted little time in taking the lead when Dwight Peters tucked in following a flowing build-up between Walter Moore and Anthony Abrams in the 15th minute.
They doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when Abrams tapped home Dwain Jacobs’ rebound and they seemed to have put the match to bed in the 57th minute through Moore’s clinical finish after being set up by Peters.
However, the Netherlands refused to roll over and came storming back in the 74th minute when Bryan Anastatia scored from the penalty spot.
Kenneth Kunst then sent shockwaves through the Guyana camp when he scored six minute from time thanks to a squared pass from substitute Giandro Steba.
The Netherlands could have snatched a point at the death but Guyana’s goalkeeper Ronson Williams pulled off an outstanding save to earn them full honours.
In the other game, Stefano Rijssel (14th) and Ives Vlijter (38th) ensured the hosts secured a 2-0 advantage at half-time but Zacchaeus Polius scored 13 minutes from the end to make things interesting.
Rijssel’s bombshell from the edge of the area gave St Lucian custodian Iran Cassius no chance and the lead was doubled when Vlijter scored from the spot after Naldo Kwaise was brought down in the area.
Polius gave St Lucia a small sniff when he out-jumped the Surinamese defence at the back post to head home but it proved too little too late.