ST JOHN’S, Antigua — Head coaches Theodore Whitmore of Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz and Tom Curtis of Antigua and Barbuda have expressed disappointment at the 0-0 stalemate their teams exhibited in the semi-final round of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying play-offs here at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Grounds on Tuesday night.

Whitmore told the media that while he was disappointed with the result, he was prepared to accept the one point gained, while young English coach Curtis rued the two points dropped because he thought his players were better for most of the game.

“Well I wasn’t satisfied with the result, but I guess at the end of the day you come into the game with one point and you leave with one point,” Whitmore said at game’s end.

Curtis said: “I suppose we are a little bit disappointed, we didn’t win the game because I felt for much of the first hour we seemed to be the stronger side both physically and I suppose the football we played.

“It was a tight game though and it probably could have gone either way and luck seemed to be even on both counts. We had a number of chances and they had one or two chances as well, but overall I think we are disappointed not to have taken three points off Jamaica with all those high-quality players.”

The result left the two seeded teams, Jamaica and the United States level on four points atop Group A, with Antigua and Barbuda improving to third place with one point and Guatemala at the bottom of the group with a point.

When the competition resumes on September 7, Jamaica will play host to the US in a top-of-the-table clash at Kingston’s National Stadium, while Antigua and Barbuda host Guatemala in a crucial encounter for both teams.

The burly Antiguans might not have won the war, but they certainly won the physical battles and Whitmore was lavish in his praise of the eastern Caribbean side.

“I think it was a well-deserved point… they (Antigua) were not going to lay down and die, it was going to be a tough game, that was expected from them. I am pleased with the one point, I would have been more satisfied with all three points, but the game could have gone either way.

“I think the Antiguan team is a pretty decent team, they are tough to play against, especially in Antigua and any team coming here to play against Antigua is going to be in serious problems, so we were prepared for this task,” he noted.

Whitmore’s opposite number also lauded his team’s tenacity and fearlessness against the more famous opponents. “I must pay tribute to all our players on a fantastic performance, a big, physical and mental performance from everybody and we are still in the group, that’s the main thing, we are still in it.

“I think it would be difficult if Jamaica and the US were six points tonight with positive results, but we are looking forward to be really competitive down the line against Guatemala obviously.”

It was a game of few chances, the best of which might have fallen to the New York Red Bull Dane Richards, who booted over the top from possibly Jamaica’s best approach play all night, with goalkeeper Molvin James at his mercy.

Je-Vaughn Watson, who was ineffective in the first half, cut inside his markers from the left before playing a neat pass to Johnson, who teed up Richards inside the area, only for the diminutive player to squander the opportunity.

Still, Whitmore thought it was a good performance from his team, though they tried to avoid the middle of the pitch which carried about six rough cricket pitches which made ball movement a little difficult.

“I think it was a fairly good performance, we were organised and we kept our shape,” admitted Whitmore, a former Reggae Boyz star player and the man who notched a brace in a 2-1 win over Japan at the France 1998 World Cup Finals.

“The pitch has a lot to do with it. We are used to the passing game and especially in the middle of the park it was a bit difficult to play. You can recall we made a lot of turnovers to Antigua in the middle of the field, so we had to use the wings with Dane Richards, Je-Vaughn Watson and Luton, at times,” he explained.

The coach also played down the few minutes given to the Stoke City forward Ricardo Fuller and the earlier introduction of young Tremaine Stewart.

“Ricardo (Fuller) is a part of the team, so any given player at any time we feel is needed, we inject them in the game and I think at that point Ricardo was the one needed. And as I said before it is how the game progresses and at the time when we took off Luton, Tremaine (Stewart) was the one at the time to put into the team.”

Meanwhile, Curtis, the 39-year-old who has been coaching the Antigua and Barbuda team for the past 14 months thought his team was positive at the end as they went in search of the winning goal.

“I think in the last 20 minutes the game was very even and could have gone either way. I thought it was important not to concede a goal and actually score a goal and I think the guys were positive and really pushed forward.”

At the end the result is probably what the Boyz deserved, as they never displayed the tenacity, urgency and hunger of a team which was desperate for three points.