Weymouth Wales kicked off the 2026 Barbados Football Association’s (BFA) Premier League campaign with a 2-0 victory over newly promoted Bagatelle at the Wildey Technical Centre on Sunday night.
An own goal from Bagatelle saw Wales take the lead in the first half after being under sustained pressure, before the league’s all time leading goal scorer Armando Lashley opened his account for the season and made the points safe by converting a second half penalty.
Bagatelle will look back at missed opportunities to punish Wales’ defence, but coach Norman Forde can take solace from the fact his squad showed moments of good form.
Head coach of Weymouth Wales, Asquith Howell was pleased to start the season on a winning note, but says there is still lots of room for improvement.
“It looks like we were a bit short of form coming after the long break. We only started back training this week and that performance reflects a team that is now back in training. Nevertheless we will step it up,” Howell said.
Wales made a number of changes to their starting lineup with national captain Andre Applewhaite no longer in the squad having signed a pro contract in the USA, while new keeper Shaquon Philips got the start in goal, ahead of national custodian Kishmar Primus. Additionally, former Deacons captain Keon Atkins came on as a substitute following his transfer.
Howell said the new players are yet to be fully integrated.
“Well, again on the training ground is where the work will have to be for them to fit in. Obviously, they’re coming to a new club, so obviously we tend to play a different type of football. For example, Atkins in the Deacons team, he would have been the worker in that side, but we have a team where he won’t have to do that,” Howell explained.
Having dominated at the domestic level for the last decade, Wales enjoyed success at the CFU level last year. It’s a feat Howell is keen to repeat in 2026.
“Well obviously this week alone, we sat as a team and we discussed our goals.
“We hope to repeat as double champions and then hopefully go one step further in the CFU Cup by winning the shield and then going on to the Club Championships,” he said.
Prime Minister’s Cup third place finishers Paradise and UWI Blackbirds, both showed signs of early season jitters in the night’s second game, but it was the Dover-based unit who walked away with the three points, following a second half goal from Jaron Oughterson against his former team.
Paradise had the better of the chances in the opening half, but keeper K’den Hee Chung pulled off a string of key saves to keep the scores level at the break
Coach Mario Harte was happy to secure the 1-0 win, but also conceded his team is yet to fully settle.
“Well we got the points and that is the most important thing. It’s natural when you have new players together you have to gel and the best way to do that is by playing. Luckily we got the three points while still trying to really figure out stuff,” Harte said.
Harte said he was happy with the new faces in his young squad, having undertaken a major overhaul last season. He was particularly pleased with his side’s effort to play “team football.”
After setting the Prime Minister’s Cup alight with a number of scintillating displays, playmaker Sheran Hoyte has departed for pro league football in Trinidad and according to coach Harte, his boots will be big ones to fill.
“Oh it’s a big loss. Everybody knows Sheran, he’s a goal scorer, he looks like he’s out of the game and then somehow he will get a goal or two, and you know that’s the kind of player that you really want,” Harte admitted.
In the nightcap game, Kickstart Rush came from a goal down to defeat Brittons Hill United 2-1.
Corey Hoyte picked up where he left off last season for Brittons Hill with an early goal in the 10th minute, before two goals in 15 minutes from Kickstart saw them take control of the contest.
Tekyle Alleyne-Callender equalized clinically from the penalty spot in the 33rd minute, before Liam Luke completed the turnaround in first half added time.
Kickstart coach Renaldo Gilkes says it was a keenly contested game, as was expected.
“Brittons Hill always offers us a good battle and tonight was no different. We are missing some key players due to injury, illness, family vacation, that kind of stuff, so we had to fill some very important slots tonight and I think the guys did commendably well.
“We went down after a set piece, but we still had a lot of experience out there along with the youth. We have players like Carl Hinson, Jayden Goodridge, Jaylan Gilkes, and they really put their hands around the younger players, the young Kimani Cox who played in an unfamiliar role tonight,” Gilkes explained.
Gilkes admitted that he was relieved to start the season on the right foot.
“We showed a lot of character in the first game of the season, because you want to start with three points. You don’t necessarily want to start behind the eight ball, and we want to use this momentum. We have a lengthy break until our second game that we plan to utilize wisely,” he said.
