VETERAN striker Ataullah Guerra scored a first-half brace as Terminix La Horquetta Rangers, the Trinidad and Tobago professional football club, opened its pre-season Caribbean tour with a 2-0 win over the St Lucia national team, on Tuesday night in Grenada.
The series will see Rangers meeting St Lucia and Grenada twice on March 10 & 12, before moving to St Vincent & the Grenadines where they meet that national team on March 15 & 18. While abroad, Rangers will miss the opening two rounds of the new Trinidad and Tobago Premier League which begins tomorrow.
Coached by former T&T standout Stern John, St Lucia had a lot of passive possession, but were unable to break down Rangers, who defended behind the ball, only breaking forward quickly on the counter when they had the ball.
Now 35, Guerra shows that he has lost none of the sharp finishing which once saw him finish among the top goal-scorers in the 2018 season of the USA’s second flight (USL) with 15 goals for the Charleston Battery. When the ball came to Guerra, he gave an exhibition to his rival St Lucian strikers how it should be done.
Rangers captain Jamal Creighton won the ball in midfield, found dribbler Real Gill, who penetrated and passed inside to Guerra, who put a low shot to the corner for 1-0 in the 13th minute. Gill had a very influential first half, creating chances for Tyronne Charles, who once struck straight at the St Lucian goalkeeper and also had a first-half goal disallowed.
Gill was also involved in Guerra’s second item, delivering a corner, which was contested by right midfielder Isaiah Lee, before dropping to Guerra, who banged the ball in off the underside of the crossbar, four minutes into first half added-on time.
John, also a former English Premiership striker, got better effort from his St Lucian outfit, resulting in them having a couple of half chances, none of which were good enough to beat Rangers custodian Jabari St Hillaire.
Rangers attacked much less than in the first half, concentrating on managing their defensive shape.
