CATHERINE HALL, St James — Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz continued their good build up to a busy summer competition schedule after easing past Cuba 3-0 in a friendly international at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on a wet and cool Monday night.

Three days after getting by a much tougher Venezuelan outfit at the same venue, the Reggae Boyz ran their record to five straight wins and unbeaten in six games as they prepared for the Copa America in June and the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July.

Romeo Parkes scored in the first minute with his first goal for the Reggae Boyz in his first start, Daniel Gordon got the second three minutes later, while Darren Mattocks, now dubbed ‘Mr Reliable’, scored the third in the 30th minute.

Jamaica made five changes to the team that beat Venezuela as a number of players used the opportunity to try and convince coach Winfried Schaefer they deserve a place in the squad for both tournaments.

Schaefer was pleased with the performance of the team over both games. “We concentrated for 90 minutes against Venezuela, and we did a lot of good things tonight (Monday),” he said.

He is still on the lookout for more players, he said. “We have to look at many more players, we can’t use the same squad for the Copa America and the Gold Cup,” he said, adding that he hoped some of the players like England-based Simon Dawkins will be fit and ready.

Schaefer said he was not sure what Cuba would bring but after they went up 2-0 in less than five minutes, the intensity dropped. He urged that in this situation the team should press hard and try to score as many goals as possible.

He said, however, the team might have been a bit tired after Friday’s exertions.

Cuba had only eight members of the Caribbean Cup team that qualified for the Gold Cup and 12 of their Under-20 team that failed to get past the first round of the CONCACAF Under-20 tournament, also held in Montego Bay in January, as they seek to develop younger players.

The Cuba coach said, through an interpreter, they were caught out by the speed of the corners and while they had practised defending corners, they had no answer to the Jamaican set plays.

He said Jamaica was the best team in the region and they came expecting a tough game, and going behind so early made it difficult to recover.

Jamaica earned two corners in the first minute and the Cuban goalkeeper Alejandro Guerra punched one only as far as the edge of the 18-yard box and Parkes, who plays his club football in Central America, powered it back past the left of the diving custodian.

Gordon would have impressed with his goal-poaching instincts, flashing a header past Guerra in the fourth minute after the Cuban defence got caught and failed to clear another ball.

Cuba eventually settled down and kept the Jamaican team out of their defensive area, but the locals were not to be denied as Mattocks showed off his ball-handling skills on two occasions to get away from double teams, before he too capitalised on another Cuba defensive lapse and headed into the goal from close range past Guerra in the 30th minute.

Mattocks should have had a second in the 59th minute but his diving header was saved just on the line then cleared out of danger.

A raft of changes by both teams took a lot of the intensity out of the game, but Montego Bay United’s Owayne Gordon, who replaced Parkes in the 50th minute, showed some industry with his surging runs, while defender Adrian Mariappa and Hughan Grey, who came on for Mattocks, pressured the Cuban defence to the end.

Teams: Jamaica — Ryan Thompson, Daniel Gordon, Westley Morgan (Jermaine Taylor 62nd), Giles Barnes, Darren Mattocks (Hughan Grey 61st), Joel Grant, Je-Vaughn Watson, Romeo Parkes (Owayne Gordon 50th), Rudolph Austin (Dino Williams 78th), Adrian Mariappa, Kemar Lawrence (Ricardo Morris 60th).

Subs not used: DuWayne Kerr, Peter Harrison

Booked: None

Cuba — Alejandro Guerra, Andy Baguero (Humerto Dranquet 69th), Janiel Marquez (Luis Clavelo 82nd), Leiraldo Collado (Yannier Martinez 68th), Edwardo Santa (Manuel Perez 81st), Alejandro Reyes (Yoandir Puja 77th), Pedro Martinez, Luis Corrales, Criceell Hernandez (Tomas Cruz 73rd), Arturo Diz Pie, Renay Malblanche

Subs not used: Yazmani Lopez, Sandi Sanchez, Reynier Guerra

Booked: none

Referee: Kimbell Ward (St Kitts/Nevis)

Assistant Referees: Richard Washington (Jamaica), Lloyd Edwards (Jamaica)

Fourth Official: Karl Tyrell (Jamaica)

Match Commissary: Beverly Melbourne (Jamaica)