FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique — Theodore Whitmore, head coach of Jamaica’s national senior football team, said he was confident that he had the armoury to topple Guadeloupe in the penalty shoot-out and retain the Digicel Caribbean Cup, which ended at the Pierre Aliker Stadium on Sunday night.

After ending regulation and extra time locked at 1-1, the Reggae Boyz prevailed 5-4 on penalties to notch their fifth Caribbean Cup title, and with it US$120,000 (about J$10.2 million) in prize money.

“We saw it was coming to that (penalty), so that is why we injected Woodbine (O’brian) for the skipper Shavar Thomas, because we realised that we had four good penalty kickers on the field, so we wanted Woodbine to make five,” Whitmore said. Woodbine, of Reno FC, was introduced in the 117th minute, an obvious penalty-taking substitution, and the wily free kicker duly obliged with the third spot kick.

Man-of-the-Match Rodolph Austin, Luton Shelton, Woodbine, Eric Vernan and Troy Smith were perfect from the spot for Jamaica, while the Gwada Boys paced themselves neck-and-neck in the shootout until their final strike which was side-footed wide of Dwayne Miller’s right hand post, when the entire crowd was expecting one of the trademark pile drivers from towering defender Jean Luc Lamboude.

“I knew these guys were capable of doing the job and we were just hoping that the Guadeloupe team slip up and they did,” added Whitmore, who, along with goalkeeper coach Warren Barrett, has the unique achievement of winning the Caribbean Cup as both player and coach.

Regarding the feat, the former Reggae Boyz skipper said he was overjoyed. “It is something that words can’t express, I’m very delighted,” he said, but noted that he was glad for his players, whom he believed displayed true grit and determination.

“I think we came here and we achieved our objective. It was a tough nine days, but we were prepared for it and we qualified for the Gold Cup and won the Digicel Caribbean Cup.

“What can I say, a final isn’t always going to be a classic or attractive game, but we stuck to the task and at times we came under a bit of pressure and we came out victorious nonetheless.”

Whitmore disclosed that one of the areas in which he believes his team suffered was in midfield. He also suggested that his players, possibly due to mental or physical fatigue, played conservatively and allowed the opposition to push them on the defensive.

“I think the players were conserving their energy, I don’t think the players gave 100 per cent tonight (Sunday) in terms of what they can give and that is why we came under a lot of pressure,” he said.

He suggested that he and his backroom staff realised that it would have been a problem and so they introduced Eric Vernan and Troy Smith to add fresh legs to the contest. He was also hoping to get Keammar Daley and young Marvin Morgan on the pitch but the situation did not allow him to. So now the team will take a well-deserved rest before the start of friendly international next year in preparation for next summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup. Meanwhile, Guadeloupe’s captain Stephane Auvray said he is satisfied with his team’s performance even in defeat. “I think we did in the game what we had to do, because when you look at the second game we played against Jamaica in the first round we should have done better than that. Maybe we lost tonight (Sunday), but I think technically the ball possession was good, and tactically when we didn’t have the ball we were also very good, so we are satisfied with the game even if we lost.

“Now we have to get ready for the Gold Cup. Our status is different from the other Caribbean countries because we can’t really get our players in for the Gold Cup to train, but we are accustomed to that, so we will make Guadeloupe football evolve as usual.”