A LAST GASP, 89th minute goal from striker Paul Hall helped Jamaica to salvage a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Barbados in their opening round CONCACAF Gold Cup football qualifying match at the Grenada National Stadium.
Gregory 'Lalu' Goodridge's 88th minute strike sent Barbados 1-0 up to the surprise of the heavily favoured Jamaicans, who left the island on Thursday with a strong 18-man squad - among them 10 overseas players - full of confidence.
However, luckily for Jamaica, Rushden & Diamonds' striker Hall, who has been enjoying good goal-scoring form with his English team, struck just in time to cancel out Goodridge's strike. The latter plays for Torquay United in England.
The Jamaicans will be in action again tomorrow when they take on Guadeloupe at 5:00 p.m. (Jamaica time) before going up against hosts Grenada on Wednesday, starting at 6:00 p.m.
The top two teams from this group advance to the final round in Trinidad and Tobago next year where they will vie for places in the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup football tournament in the United States.
The result of the second game of the day's doubleheader between Grenada and Guadeloupe was not available at press time.
Jamaica's starting team yesterday was: Aaron Lawrence, Claude Davis, Ian Goodison, Craig Ziadie, Tyrone Marshall, Robert Scarlett, Winston Griffiths, Omar Daley, Richard Langley, Paul Hall and Wolde Harris.
