BVI, Dominica settle for 1-1 draw, share of group lead | Sports

Midfielder Luka Chalwell — who scored twice in the BVI’s 3-1 victory over the Turks and Caicos Islands on Sept. 9 — scored in the 29th minute to put the Nature Boys up 1-0 at the half.

“It was a good ball from Jerry (Wiltshire), I watched it the whole way,” said Chalwell, who was playing to the right side when he connected. “I touched it down, the defender shifted to his left side and I just thought ‘I have to hit this ball,’ and I saw it going in and from there, it was celebrating.

“I want to do everything I can and help the team progress, that’s the most important thing.”

Both teams had their chances on goal, and BVI goalie Daniel Gilford withstood the pressure until Dominica vice-captain Briel Thomas scored in the 83rd minute.

BVI head coach Chris Kiwomya said the team had chances to go two goals up, which would have given them a little more confidence.

“When it was 1-0, we knew it was always going to be difficult,” Kiwomya said. “They put so many balls in the box, but they got guys 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3 — about five of them — so It’s hard to defend against them, but the guys played really well.”

Nature Boys captain Kavon “Troy” Caesar said that Dominica’s players came into the match confident that they would have dominated, but the BVI executed the game plan that the coaches developed.

“I’m proud of the guys. I can’t thank God enough for everything that we went through and we can see the progress,” Caesar said.

“This was another step up the mountain. We’re heading into Turks and Caicos on Monday and taking that next step and I’m very confident that we can go through now and when Dominica comes to Tortola in November, we’re going to deal with them.”

Chalwell said that the team has improved immensely, and they are no longer a pushover.

“I know teams find us hard to break down and that’s what we want,” he said. “We want everybody to know we’re not little BVI. We have big hearts and we’ll do what we have to do to win games and get results.”

Dominica coach Ellington Sabin said they weren’t looking for a draw and wanted all three points.

“We didn’t get it, but at the same time I’m grateful for the point,” he said. “We expect that we’ll qualify. This is just a stumbling block. We’ll regroup and come again.

“Our next game is against the BVI (on Nov. 16 on Tortola), so hopefully, we’ll go there and take three points from them.”