BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC) - Haiti emerged as winners in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), Group D Olympic qualifiers on Thursday when they inflicted a stunning 1-0 defeat on their hosts St Kitts and Nevis at Warner Park.

The all-important goal came in the 87th minute when substitute Louis Serge capitalised on a breakdown in the Kittitian defence to fire a powerful right footer just inside the 18-yard box to the left of the advancing goalkeeper Alexis Richards.

Much of the hard work had earlier been done by left winger Raymond Enderson who dribbled his way past two backline players before expertly picking out Serge who was racing down the middle. His clinical finish left almost 5,000 local supporters totally disappointed.

The home team had only themselves to blame after a poor shooting display on a night when they outplayed their French-speaking opponents in every aspect of the match.

As early as the second minute, St Kitts had their first chance when forward Imran Ponteen received a superb pass from teammate Kyle Mills on the right. Surprised to find himself unmarked, Ponteen only succeeded in cracking the ball high over the crossbar as he went for power over placement with his shot.

The Haitians were reduced to 10 men when Marcelin James was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 23rd minute. The central defender committed a nasty tackle from behind on Attiba Harris and referee Bryan Willet had no choice but to send him to the dressing room.

The first real opportunity for the local boys to benefit from their numerical advantage came just about 10 minutes later when Harris sliced his way through the Haitian defence, raced into the penalty box and unleashed a thunderous right-footed shot on goal.

Goalkeeper Occenat Perterson flung himself acrobatically to his left to effect a miraculous save.

The pattern after half-time was similar with St Kitts-Nevis aggressively attacking the visitors. Haiti opted to counter attack and got their best chance in the 69th minute.

Azor Bidrece got an excellent weighted pass from Fritzson on the right and made a hash of it. The ball skidded from the outer portion of his boot and went harmlessly wide of the goal.

Bidrece almost made amends shortly after, however. Awarded a free-kick after being recklessly fouled by Rovan Wigley two minutes later, his sharply dipping left curler was stupendously parried over the crossbar by Richards.

St Kitts, however, had a golden opportunity to claim the equaliser just before the final whistle. In a last ditch attempt, Harris made an enterprising run down the left flank evaded a pair of tackles and selflessly squared the ball for Ponteen inside six-yard box, but he slammed the ball over the top.

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