Antigua and Barbuda saw off Anguilla 5-0 in their CONCACAF Nations League encounter on Friday night, a result that leaves the hosts firmly in control of their League C group. The scoreline reflected a match where the visitors were outclassed from the opening whistle, and here's the thing — it didn't take long for the pattern to emerge.
Christopher Douglas struck after just one minute, catching Anguilla asleep at the back, and Dion Pereira doubled the lead sixteen minutes in. By twenty-one minutes Douglas had added another, and the hosts had already taken their foot off the gas. To be fair, the visitors simply had no response to offer.
D'Andre Bishop made it four in the thirty-fifth minute before K George completed the scoring forty-three minutes in. K George picked up a yellow card of his own shortly after, and the hosts continued to dominate possession. Anguilla managed only two shots on target across the entire ninety minutes.
The second half saw the hosts manage their players carefully, with Christopher Douglas and Dion Pereira both withdrawn at the seventy-first minute. Keon Kevin Greene was shown a red card in the seventy-second minute, and Shalon knight followed suit ninety-three minutes in, leaving Antigua and Barbuda with two men sent off despite the comfortable lead.
The statistics told a familiar story. The hosts recorded 129 attacks against 98 for the visitors, and their 74 per cent possession figure translated into 16 shots compared to seven. Antigua and Barbuda completed 468 of 528 passes, while their opponents managed 118 from 188. The shots accuracy figures — 42 per cent versus 25 per cent — said everything.
This result extends a difficult period for Anguilla, who have now lost four of their last five matches including a 4-0 defeat to the British Virgin Islands. Antigua and Barbuda, meanwhile, will be satisfied with a performance that finally delivered after a run of results that saw them lose three of their last five. The goal difference tells its own tale, and by then it was clear this was never going to be a contest.
