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Antigua and Barbuda’s Under-14 girls football team endured their second consecutive defeat in the Caribbean Football Union U14 Challenge Series, falling 2-1 to Guyana on Saturday afternoon in what proved to be a closely contested encounter.
Guyana opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Lehianna Benjamin capitalized on a defensive error, placing her shot over goalkeeper Alaysia Liddie’s head after the Antigua defence failed to clear a loose ball in their penalty area. The early goal set the tone for a challenging afternoon for the young Antiguan side, who struggled to contain their opponents’ attacking threats.
The Guyanese doubled their advantage in the 29th minute through Thais Charles, who found the net from a long-range free kick that caught goalkeeper Liddie off her line.
Despite trailing by two goals, Antigua showed some resilience and continued to press forward in search of a way back into the match. Their persistence was rewarded in stoppage time when Jordyn Henriques scored a consolation goal in somewhat fortuitous circumstances. A corner kick delivery into the Guyana penalty area struck Henriques on the hip before deflecting into the back of the net, providing some late drama to an otherwise disappointing afternoon for the Antiguans.
The defeat represents Antigua’s second loss in the tournament following their 3-1 reverse against neighbours Anguilla on Thursday. They will look to secure their first points of the tournament when they face the Cayman Islands on Monday, before concluding their Challenge Series campaign against Turks and Caicos on Tuesday.
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