IT HAS been several years since the Sunshine Girls have plied their trade in Jamaica so they made sure to make their return worthwhile, winning in a one-goal thriller over England.

Coming off a disappointing first test, Jamaica wanted to come out firing and that is what they did. Jamaica had a hot start scoring 4-0 off of England’s first two centre passes. Right from the get-go, it was going to be a defensive game with two quick intercepts back-to-back from Fran Williams and Jodi-Ann Ward.

It took England nearly four minutes to put their first major on the scoreboard. The attack was completely dominated by the host nation by exploiting the back space. The Jamaican attackers would drive their opposition forward to utilise the free space and hit circle edge.

The crowd was as vocal as ever. Every defender for Jamaica were getting gains left, right and centre, while their attack were willing to let the ball go into the circle fearlessly.

Helen Housby went down midway through the first quarter with whiplash but was failed to be taken off the court for assessment. There were glimpses of moments for England, for the first quarter was all Sunshine Girls to take the lead into the first break by two goals.

Olivia Tchine was injected back in goal shooter for England and added three quick goals to take the lead by one.

The scoreline jumped back out to six goals for Jamaica due to England giving up the one percenters. Some dropped balls, sticking with one channel on the court and misplaced passes forced the visitors to cough up possession on multiple occasions.

A block by Shamera Sterling-Humphrey on Tchine under the post really summed up at least the first half for the Jamaicans with everything just falling into place for the host nation.

England was forced to go back to go forwards to be able to penetrate their attacking third which gave the Jamaicans more space for gains which came through Shanice Beckford who finished off her hard work at the post. Jamaica took a half time lead 26-23.

The second half started goal-for-goal, but two gains for Sterling-Humphrey pushed the lead out to eight goals for the Jamaicans. The frustration on the England defenders faces was unavoidable as Jamaica were dominating all areas of the court.

It took a few minutes for the Roses to put their first goal on the scoreboard and they didn’t really have any answers to what the Sunshine Girls were throwing at them.

After a relatively quiet series to her standards, Sterling-Humphrey reminded everyone of who she is with more blocks and more gains inside and outside the circle, featuring a cheeky split.

In the blink of an eye, the deficit reduced from eight goals to three heading into the last break.

The injection of Razia Quashie in the previous quarter was effective as she constantly rotated around the circle, rolling off the body and hunting outside the circle. Even if these didn’t result in straight gains, it put doubt into the feeders minds and the Jamaicans were playing around with the ball more in attack.

England couldn’t seem to get the deficit closer than two goals at any point in the game until the dying minutes of the game making it a one-goal difference.

With one minute to go and England leveled the scores at 49-all, but after milking the clock around the shooting circle, Jamaica scored the sealer from a penalty on the siren to take its first victory of the Horizon Series.

Jamaica (50) defeated England (49)

Player of the Match = Shamera Sterling-Humphrey (Jamaica)

STARTING 7:

Jamaica

GS: Romelda Aiken-George
GA: Shanice Beckford
WA: Khadijah Williams
C: Abigail Sutherland
WD: Latanya Wilson
GD: Jodi-Ann Ward
GK: Shamera Sterling-Humphrey

England

GS: Helen Housby
GA: Lois Pearson
WA: Jess Shaw
C: Imogen Allison
WD: Beth Cobden
GD: Funmi Fadoju
GK: Fran Williams