Guyana’s national Under-23 football team continued its Cinderella run with a 2-1 morale-boosting victory over mighty Trinidad and Tobago in a friendly international at the GCC ground yesterday.

Despite finishing the match with 10 players following the expulsion of Gregory `Jackie Chan’ Richardson late in the second half, Guyana was able to steal the victory, compliments of a late second-half goal from captain Sean `Bubbley’ Beveney.

Technical Director Neider De Santos described the hard-fought win as the `sweetest’ since his side commenced training for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifier in June.

Watched by a crowd that included Minister of Home Affairs Ronald Gajraj and Director of Sport Neil Kumar, Guyana started cautiously but turned on the pressure in the second half of the see-sawing battle.

The Trinidad forwards and midfield combined to produce problems for the local midfield and defence players and came close on several occasions, but were denied by excellent goalkeeping from Andrew Durant.

Striker Devon Millington, remained a thorn in the side of the visitors and opened Guyana’s account two minutes into the second half after drilling two defenders before rocking the net.

Trinidad equalised in the 80th minute when midfielder Kerry Baptiste worked his way around Travis Waterton and fired in a right-foot shot which scored at the North Road end goal.

Two minutes later referee Stanley Lancaster reduced the size of the local side when he issued marching orders to Richardson for foul language.

The issue was sealed in the 83rd minute when Beveney collected a pass from Millington and shot on the run to beat goalkeeper Jan Michael Williams.

The win over the Twin-Island Republic, ranked more than 119 places below Guyana, came on the heels of Guyana’s historic entry into the second round of the Olympic Qualifier and before home and away games against Costa Rica.

“It was a very good match. It was an even game. We both had opportunities to score. It is the best performance by our team. Trinidad is by far the strongest opponent that we have faced but we still have a lot of improving to do,” Dos Santos said.

“Of course it is the sweetest victory for us. Trinidad is a US$3M team. They are a powerhouse in the Caribbean. They went to Africa and played with Costa Rica. I think that it is a great achievement and I must say congratulations to the team. They have done a wonderful job.”

The Brazilian came out firing at the performance of the referee claiming that his lack of experience made him unsuitable for a game of such level.

“We need to choose the referees very carefully. I am not knocking the guy who refereed this afternoon but he is not experienced at all. With Trinidad playing Guyana I think that we would need experienced referees. We cannot experiment with referees at this point,” Dos Santos said.

“This is a concern that I have. I have spoken to some people but I don’t think that I’m speaking loud enough. We need experienced referees to do good matches.”

An evidently upset George Joseph, manager of the losing side claimed that yesterday’s performance was the worst by his side since it started preparing for the Olympic Qualifiers.

“I think that our team did not adapt to the conditions and they played badly. I think that Guyana definitely deserved to win the game. It was one of those days when the team did not perform as it should and they were defeated. I am very disappointed,” Joseph said.

However the manager claimed that his side will bounce back. “I think that the coach has to go back to the drawing board with the team and the players have to really put some more effort into it.” The final game of the two-match tour will be played tomorrow at the Blairmont ground.