ASSISTANT coach Bradley Stewart has mixed feelings about Jamaica’s 0-0 draw with Costa Rica in a friendly international in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Wednesday night.

“I think there are aspects of the game that we would be satisfied with, the energy levels… that in particular because I thought that at the end of the game we seemed like we had a little more energy, we were running, we were getting passes together…,” head coach Theodore Whitmore’s deputy told reporters.

However, Stewart was quick to add: “When you evaluate the game, there are aspects that we think we need to make adjustments to… we started a little bit on the tentative side, defending too deep, the midfield wasn’t as cohesive, passes going astray, playing penetration passes too early, isolating your attackers from your midfielders… those are things we have to work on.

“We have a few days to make some adjustments, improve on our conditioning, improve on the chemistry between players and how we want them to operate.”

Following their 1-0 win over the Central Americans at the National Stadium in early September, the Reggae Boyz were largely uninspiring at Lockhart Stadium, particularly in the first half when they appeared disinterested and disorganised, coupled with numerous unforced errors.

The last time the Boyz were at that venue the game started about 15 minutes late due to a stand-off over the late payment of match fees for the Jamaicans.

On Wednesday, the game kicked off about 23 minutes late, but it was unclear what caused that delay.

Still, there was nothing much to cheer about, except for nearing the end of the first half when Jamaica’s New York Red Bulls winger Dane Richards was spitefully brought down just outside the penalty box after a lightning breakaway.

Jamaica had adapted a 3-4-3 formation with one holding central midfielder, two flank midfielders and one attacking midfielder. However, the team struggled with that system, both in defence and attack, as gaps were opened up in defence and there was deficiency in ball possession, especially in the attacking half.

But neither goalkeeper had a save to make, as statistics show that Jamaica had two shots on goal. Costa Rica, under a new coach, former two-time Mexican boss, Argentine Ricardo La Volpe, had three shots at goal.

Stewart said the technical staff was far from happy with that display. “We’re not exactly happy because the stats showed that we had five opportunities on goal, only three on target… that we have to improve on, granted the teams that are at the Digicel (Caribbean Cup) level are different from those at the Central American level like Costa Rica, who we think is a good team.”

However, immediately upon the resumption, Shaun Francis, who played on the left side of midfield, and was largely anonymous in the first half, was played through by Dane Richards from midway the attacking half, but racing in on goalkeeper Keylor Navas one-on-one, he kicked the ball straight at the goalkeeper.

La Volpe is renowned for his tactical nous and at the interval he substituted one of his two holding midfielders and resorted to a five-man defence.

The tactic almost paid off, as moments later, one of the two half-time substitutes, Marco Urena, latched onto a long range pass on Jamaica’s left side of defence, but goalkeeper Dwayne Miller blocked well with his sprawling right boot.

Stewart thought the half-time pep talk did the trick. “The half-time talk I thought addressed some of those issues and they came out with a renewed focus. I thought we saw more understanding, more cohesiveness in the middle of the field as the game progressed.

“I can recall that one of the better chances that we got came from combination passes and bringing the ball out from the defence. In the first half, I think we were preoccupied with getting rid of the ball, rather than keeping possession… and as a result we didn’t create enough chances for long periods.” he added.

Lovel Palmer, who plays for the Houston Dynamo, got a glorious chance to put his team ahead when he broke free on the right from Keammar Daley’s cheeky through pass, but the defensive wing player could only smash a firm right-footer against the base of Navas’ left hand post.

Whitmore then reverted to his more familiar two-man holding midfield system, and the Jamaicans immediately lifted their game with more fluent passes through the middle of the park, while looking more organised as a unit. Still, neither team could find a winner.

Stewart believes that game proved useful. “Overall I think where the positives are they afford you an opportunity to make some adjustments and make you more efficient when you get into the Digicel Caribbean Cup, so from that position I thought the game was absolutely beneficial to us.”

The team will now take a break before regrouping on the weekend to prepare for their defence of the Digicel Caribbean Cup in Martinique, which starts next Friday.