Stewart

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, USA:

The Reggae Boyz battled back from a sloppy first half, surrendering the lead and their captain, to snatch a late equaliser and a 2-2 draw in a testy football international against Haiti here on Saturday night.

Striker Nicholas Addlery, on his Jamaica senior team debut, opened the scoring for the Boyz in the 29th minute by booting home a rebound after his initial shot on a breakaway was blocked by Haiti's goalkeeper Peterson Occenat.

But Jamaica's lead was cancelled 10 minutes later when substitute Jean Robens Jerome capitalised on one of several glaring errors in marking by Jamaica's defence to slice a low cross from Raymond Ednerson inside goalkeeper Shawn Sawyers' far post.

Jamaica, like Haiti using the match at Lockhart Stadium as part of their tune-up for July's CONCACAF Gold Cup, watched their problems worsen in the 45th minute when captain Claude Davis received his second yellow card and marching orders following a thunderous, but ill-timed challenge on Haiti's Vaniel Sirin near midfield. It was not the start coach John Barnes had in mind.

"Going down to 10 men wasn't part of the plan, obviously," said Barnes, who called the collision "a complete accident" and labelled American referee Jair Marrufo's decision to eject the big central defender "harsh". Davis had picked up his first caution in the 18th minute.

Short on quality

Playing a man short for an entire second half was not an exciting prospect for Jamaica, even with the majority of the enthusiastic supporters in a less-than-half filled stadium on their side. The Boyz, employing a new 4-4-2 formation, fell far short on quality in the first stanza by failing to keep possession of the ball and lacking any sense of rhythm.

While Barnes praised his players' "character and belief" as the game wore on, he admitted that Jamaica faltered early.

"As a team, we didn't pass the ball well," the coach said after the-match. "... At times, I think we panicked, rushed."

To regain order and compensate for Davis' loss, the coach reshuffled Jamaica's line-up at the break. Left back Andre Campbell and forward Roland Dean, who missed a few golden opportunities to score, were replaced by veteran Ian Goodison in central defence and Oraine Simpson in midfield. Eric Vernon was slotted in at right back, Rafe Wolfe switched to Campbell's role and Addlery was left alone up front as Jamaica tried to step up the pressure.

Haiti did not back off. A torrid right-foot shot from Markorel Samleus forced a full stretch save from Sawyers in the 55th minute. But the French Caribbean team grabbed the lead 10 minutes later.

Jamaica's defence was badly exposed by a raking diagonal ball which found Jerome in full stride on the left flank. Teammate Lesly Fellinga slipped easily between disorganised marking to meet his cross.

With Jamaica scrambling to cope, Haiti spilled other chances to put the game out of reach. In the 74th minute, Jamaica were again caught on the counter-attack. But after neatly pulling down a cross from the left flank, Leonel Saint Prelix booted wide from inside the box.

88th-minute header

Still, Jamaica pressed for the equaliser, at times pushing Goodison into attack as the clock ticked towards full time. The Boyz came close in the 85th minute. Midfielder Richard Edwards rifled a powerful low shot that was turned around the post by Occenat. But Haiti's goalkeeper was unable to stop Damion Stewart's lunging header off the post, from Jason Morrison's floated free kick, that put Jamaica even in the 88th minute.

Sawyers, however, would be called on one more time to save Jamaica from defeat. Jean Marc Alexandre's swerving left-foot blast forced the keeper to pull off another diving save on the stroke of full time.

Despite the draw, Haiti's coach Jairo Rios was full of praise for his team, which he said was not intimidated by reigning Caribbean champions and higher-ranked Jamaica.

"Haiti did a great job," the Colombian said through a translator. (Jamaica) probed like we expected, but for us this is very, very good news."

Did not play well

Barnes admitted his "team did not play well as a whole", but said he was not surprised by Haiti's aggressive showing in a match that added three other cautions to Davis' pair.

"I knew they had quality," he said. "I expected a hard match and I got that."

Jamaica will get a quick chance to improve when they return to the United Sates to face El Salvador on Saturday in Washington D.C. The coach will accept nothing less.

"What I demand from them is quality," Barnes said.