Golden Jaguars concede 2-2 draw to 10-man Martinique

What began as a stellar performance from Guyana’s senior men’s national football team, turned out to be a nightmare in their second CONCACAF Nations League (CNL) 2024-2025 League A clash with Martinique.
Competing at the Pierre- Aliker Municipal Stadium, Fort- de-France, Martinique, the Golden Jaguars once again fielded an eyebrow-raising starting XI, comprising Captain Elliot Bonds, Goalkeeper Quillan Roberts, Terence Vancooten, Jalen Jones, Reiss Greenidge, Kadell Daniel, Daniel Wilson, Isaiah Jones, Nathan Moriah-Welsh, Stephen Duke-McKenna and Deon Moore.
Much to everyone’s surprise, the Golden Jaguars struck first and looked a well-organised unit for much of the first 45 minutes.
The newest member of the national team, Isaiah Jones came in from the wing in an attacking run from the Jaguars, passing the ball wide to Kadell Daniel on the opposite wing. Thereafter, Daniel was able to cut in enough for the pass back to Jones, who left two of Martinique’s defenders on either side in his wake to complete the simple tap-in for Guyana’s first goal in the 14th minute.
Four minutes later, Deon Moore had the opportunity of a break-away run, but the Martinique defender tracked him, Florent Poulolo handled the ball and as such, was shown a red card for impeding the goalscoring opportunity in the 18thh minute.

Now down to ten men, the Golden Jaguars rushed to take advantage of their opponents’ weakness and were able to do so as soon as the 24th minute. There was a lapse in Martinique’s defending which saw Isaiah Jones collecting the loose ball on the wing driving into the box that was populated only by the Martinique keeper, Yannis Clementia.
As Clementia cautiously advanced towards Jones and stretched out an arm to block the shot, Jones sent as easy, right-footed shot into the back of the nets to give Guyana the 2-0 lead.
Minutes later, Guyana could’ve had a 3-0 advantage, but Deon Moore’s header goal was disallowed due to a foul being called against him.
At the other end of the pitch, Martinique was still relentless in their approach, but the usual good work from Quillan Roberts saw the Guyanese being able to keep the scores locked at 2-0 for much of the first half.
However, it was in the added time of the first half that Guyana’s nightmare began.
Karl Fabien, in approaching the goal, sent a left-footed shot into the box, which could’ve been cleanly scooped up by Roberts. However, defender Jalen Jones made a flash across Roberts, as if to head the ball out of the danger zone, but missed and was only able to obstruct Roberts’ vision.
As Roberts lost the ball on the ground, it fell squarely at the feet of Martinique’s Brighton Labeau, who sent the shot into the net for Martinique’s first in the 45th+2.
Resuming the second half with a 2-1 lead, another heartbreaking chance went a-begging for Guyana in the 59th, as their issues with finishing in last week’s game against Suriname seemed to reoccur.

Isaiah Jones was once again the playmaker, approaching from the wing and sending the ball into the box to meet Nathan Moriah-Welsh, who subsequently passed it off to a wide-open Deon Moore. Martinique’s keeper Clementia was already on his knees, but Moore hesitated on taking the shot, froze and sent a back- heeled pass to an approaching Stephen Duke-McKenna seconds later. However, McKenna too was unable to send the ball into the net and lost his footing as the opportunity to pull ahead went to dust.
The Golden Jaguars managed to hold off a reinvigorated Martinique for almost another 30 minutes, but also missed opportunities of their own in that time, as their need for fresh legs began to show.
Then, the horrors of not being able to capitalise on their chances in the final third came back to haunt the national team, when Martinique’s Rudy Varane found himself alone with Jalen Jones near the back post in a corner kick set-up.
When the ball reached Varane after a failed header by his teammate, Jones showed no resistance, as the Martinique striker executed the easy tap-in for the equaliser in the 86th minute.
Five minutes of added time bore no fruit for either side, who both picked up their first points of the new CNL rotation as a result of the draw.
The Golden Jaguars will be back in action until October 11, when they are expected to face off with Guatemala at home. Guyana are in Group A of League A. (Jemima Holmes)