Forde proves the Midas touch as Barbados remain unbeaten in Digicel Cup

Montserrat the whipping boys of Group B in Digicel Cup

Friday, October 8^th 2010 – Victoria Park, St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Barbados swept aside Montserrat, the whipping boys of Group B, and maintained their unbeaten run in the Digicel Cup so far.

After the Vincy Heat making easy work of Montserrat on Wednesday night Barbados were determined not to be embarrassed by anything other than a comprehensive win and started the game very brightly with Jeffrey Williams and his name sake yet no relation Riviere Williams causing Montserrat keeper Hilton and his defenders a lot of trouble in the opening minutes.

The Victoria Park crowd did not have to wait long for the opener which came on 18 minutes when Norman Forde took the ball up in the centre of midfield and charged forward in the most direct route down the centre of the park. Forde showed great skill and composure by dropping his shoulder and moving around the defence before laying off a perfect pass to Riviere Williams whose shot was well parried by Hilton only for the rebound to bounce back off the butt of the post and sit perfectly in the air for Forde who had continued his run into the box to nod home an easy opener.

The goal seemed to take the air out of Barbados’ sails as they seemed to forget how to knock the ball around and tried to simply run through the middle of a packed Montserrat defence.

Ironically it was only as Montserrat were growing in confidence and ventured forward in their first sustained attack when Barbados broke and doubled their lead. Forde showed a touch of class again and knocked a delicate lob over a flat back four for the busy little Riviere Williams to run onto the ball which bounced once before he beautifully lobbed the ball over the advancing Hilton into an empty net to make it 2-0 after 36 minutes play.

Forde was provider again for the third when on 52 minutes he floated a beautiful free kick from the right to the back post for Terry Adamson, who had came on 30 seconds previous to this, to soar like a salmon and power his header past a helpless Hilton. Not a bad first touch for the big Bajan who was sitting on the bench spectating 1 minute earlier.

Man of the match Forde showed just why he was rumoured to be on his way to a top English Premier League team just a few short years ago when he topped off a fantastic individual performance with the goal of the night when he smashed a root footed pile driver into the top corner of Hiltons net for his second of the night coupled to setting up the other two.

In the dying seconds substitute Kadeem Atkins made it 5-0 when he turned on a six pence and smashed his shot into the roof of the net from 6 yards after receiving a neat pass from fellow super sub Terry Adamson.

The win leaves Barbados sitting top of Group B but it is yet to be determined if they will remain there until after hosts Vincy Heat take on St Kitts and Nevis in Group B’s second game of the night. Montserrat however have the unenviable record of played 2 lost 2 scored none conceded 12. Such is the lethal form of teams in this year’s Digicel Caribbean Cup.

For more information, access to match images and live score updates, visit www.digicelfootball.com.

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