Ackeel Applewhaite marked his return from injury in sensational fashion, producing an incredible equaliser as Weymouth Wales salvaged a crucial point away from home to keep their hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the Concacaf Caribbean Cup alive.
Applewhaite had been sidelined for two months with a fractured eye but powered home an acrobatic goal from close range deep in the second half, to ensure Wales held Trinidad Premier League Champions Defence Force to a 1-1 draw at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Against the run of play, Defence Force led at the half time break as Shaquille Bertand headed in a perfectly timed corner kick from Joshua Araujo-Wilson to score at the back-post.
Prior to that, Wales should have taken the lead when former Barbados national captain Rashad Jules fired straight at Defence Force’s goal keeper St Hillaire.
Defence Force were kept at bay for several periods of the encounter due to the magnificent defensive duties of Mario Williams, Ricardio Morris, Akeem Hill and makeshift holding midfielder Rashad Smith.
However, Bertand broke the deadlock in first half stoppage time as Wales were undone by a well taken set piece.
Defence Force had the advantage and looked on course to secure the win before substitute Applewhaite flipped the script. Applewhaite benefitted from a bit of luck when a long throw from Williams fell into his path and he took a touch and volleyed into the back of the net.
Both teams went in search of the winner and threw attacking options on but the points were shared on Wrightson Extension Road, Port of Spain.
“I feel great, after being out for several weeks. I had an injury and the team backed me 100 percent up until my return. I just wanted to mark my return to help my team in any way that I could and I came out here today and I did that. I just want to say kudos to the team for putting in the work for the entire competition. Going forward I just want to continue producing quality to help the team as much as I can,” Applewhaite said during a live post match interview with Concacaf.
The versatile player also described the importance of the draw ahead of Wales’final home match in the group stage.
“This is a major result for us. We wanted to come out with nothing less than a point and we did that. It is now time to go home and perform well. We have the whole of Barbados behind us against Cavalier and we are looking to get all three points against them at home,” Applewhaite explained.
