Dandy Town 0 Barbados 4

Barbados' footballers had themselves a truly dandy time at the National Sports Centre yesterday.

Having banished any nerves from their opening encounter against Bermuda's national team on Boxing Day, the visitors produced an easy 4-0 demolition of the Island's Premier League leaders Dandy Town.

Top striker Llewellyn Riley made up for a sub-par performance in his first outing with two first-half goals - a header and then a penalty - while Gregory (Lalu) Goodridge and Chris Holmes doubled the scoreline in the second session.

The Bajans' tally could have been much higher but, with victory assured, they weren't as clinical in their finishing on several occasions.

Still, they comfortably outclassed Town's line-up including red-hot striker Khano Smith - who along with Jared Peniston came on at half-time - and earned the home side's respect.

"On the balance of play, Barbados are obviously more experienced. My players were a bit naive and at critical times I thought we shot ourselves in the foot.

"We talked about it beforehand but such is the learning curve. It's a bit steep at this level," said Town coach Devarr Boyles frankly.

He noted his squad could learn a few lessons from their battle - first and foremost that they should stick to the basics.

"The simpler we keep our play and our passes and the longer our players do their roles, we can look to get decent results.

"(If) the players don't stick to their basic tasks long enough, or they don't make the runs they usually make, then we have the problems that we had today."

Boyles, however, spared a complimentary salute for central defender, Randy Swan, who executed his mission well and was a constant thorn in the Barbadians' side.

"Randy was super. He was our best player on the pitch - by far. It shows this is his level of football."

Barbados coach, Kenville Layne, also praised his defensive general and veteran national player, Wayne Sobers. For the second successive match, the latter was rock solid at the back, denying many of Town's attacking initiatives.

"As long as he reads the game from the back and marshals his troops he is a real class player. I'm always telling him that."

Quite happy with the outcome, Layne said their plan to seize advantage of counter-attacking opportunities worked to perfection.

"We let the opponents run at us and gave them the impression that we would just sit back and that opened up gaps in their half for our strikers to get one-on-one situations," he explained.

The Caribbean team got on the scoresheet in the seventh minute when an unmarked Riley rose at the back post to nod home a cross from Goodridge on the left wing.

In the 35th minute, there was a second goal to Riley's name thanks to a penalty after Town defender Justin Robinson handled a goalbound header from Norman Forde.

Town looked good in patches with Chris Anderson and Robinson trying their luck from distance; a rifling left-footer from the former bringing a full-stretch diving save from Bajan keeper Jason Boxill. Lashun Dill and Lionel Furbert also had some nice touches but lacked consistency and the necessary penetration in the final third.

Just before the half, Riley should have notched a hat-trick as he beat his marker, cutting inside from deep on the left wing only to curl the ball past the advancing keeper, Antoine Lightbourne, and the right post also.

Barbados continued their domination in the second half with their midfield clicking sweetly. In the 59th minute, Goodridge benefited from a smart build-up on the left wing and when the ball came to him, at a slightly diagonal angle right of the goal, he smacked in a right-foot volley from about 15 yards. Lightbourne had no chance.

It was icing on the cake in the 87th minute when Bajan substitutes Walton Burrowes and Holmes combined for the fourth goal. Burrowes steamed down the right flank and had the keeper committed before passing to his team-mate who calmly side-footed his strike with his right boot from point-blank range.

Meanwhile, Town - missing the services of brothers Jason (their main keeper) and playmaker Carlos Smith - had little to feed on offensively.

Having seen Khano Smith in action for the national team, the Barbadian defenders stuck to the skilful striker like white on rice, shutting him down quickly throughout the second half. Smith's only real break came with about 20 minutes left when he stole the ball from Kirk Cox mid-way in Barbados' half and sped towards goal. However, Boxill covered his near post and the marksman shot wide, missing from a very tight angle.

On another occasion, Smith played the ball nicely into the 18-yard box for Dill to shoot but the latter was thwarted as Boxill ran forward and gathered.

Peniston, too, found himself undone by the opposing defence. On one play, he was deemed onside and caught Barbados' back line napping only to be denied by a last-second, sliding tackle from Sobers who ran back determinedly to save his keeper.

Now 2-0 up in their three-match tour, Layne and the Barbadians are very confident about their New Year's Day showdown against the Bermuda national team whom they conquered 2-1 last Friday.

"I think our chances (of winning) are very good. I know the Bermudians are coming for revenge but it's 11 versus 11 and who plays the smarter game will be victorious."

"It's better than if we had lost one. Then it would be more pressure on the guys. Now, we can relax and play a bit more comfortably.

"You saw how the midfield began to gel today. They really showed a lot of maturity coming to the end of the game," said Layne of the tour finale which will be contested for the Dudley Eve Memorial Trophy.

Dandy Town: A.Lightbourne (C.Davis, 72 mins), J.Robinson (J.Peniston, 45 mins), R.Swan, D.Lawler (Kuma Smith, 80 mins), C.Anderson, M.Lowe, L.Furbert, S.Tuzo (K.Smith, 45 mins), R.Tucker (K.Mundy, 61 mins), L.Dill, W.Place (K.Butterfield, 61 mins).

Barbados: J.Boxill, W.Sobers, J.Parris, K.Cox, B.Neblett, R.Grosvenor (S.Hall, 72 mins), K.Hall, P.Lovell (C.Holmes, 77 mins), N.Forde, G.Goodridge, L.Riley (W.Burrowes, 72 mins).

Men of the Match: R.Swan (Dandy Town); W.Sobers (Barbados).

Referee: R.Knight.

More photos on Page 26.