BY SHERDON COWAN

Observer staff reporter

SAN CRISTOBAL, Dominican Republic — The young Reggae Boyz confirmed their spot in the second round of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Olympic qualifiers with a 4-0 win over the hosts Dominican Republic here inside Estadio Panamericano last evening.

Overseas-based players Michael Seaton (35th), Sean McFarlane (63rd) and Romario Williams (71st), as well as Portmore United’s Paul Wilson (86th) got on the scoresheet.

The result left Jamaica atop Group Three with maximum six points, following their 6-1 win over St Lucia last Wednesday. The Dominican Republic ended in second place on three points after also recording victory over St Lucia, while the latter finished at the foot of the table without a point.

Ariel Alvarez, coach of the Dominican Republic, felt a lack of recovery time led to his team’s loss.

“It was a really hard game for both teams, and we had a lot of sacrifice. We had a really tough game on Friday against St Lucia and had to recover 48 hours after. The Jamaicans were a little bit fresher and our guys were a little bit tired at the end, and that was a factor that brought us down,” he lamented.

After an even start in sunny conditions, the pace of the game changed gradually as Jamaica dominated the early exchanges. Their first shot at goal came courtesy of a left-footed effort by Kereen Manning that went wide of the right upright.

The young Reggae Boyz were then presented with a grand opportunity to break the deadlock in the 21st minute, however, Jamar Loza in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper muffed his shot.

The Jamaicans gained the ascendancy and continued to press for the opening goal which was inevitable. It arrived when Seaton headed in a well-weighted cross from McFarlane that left the large

home crowd stunned.

Jamaica could have gone into the break with a two-goal cushion, but Seaton’s 41st-minute shot in a one-on-one situation with the host’s custodian Luis Polanco, came back off the left upright. The scoreline remained 1-0 at the break.

The host dictated the early fractions after the resumption and forced the Jamaicans back into their defensive quarters. However, like they practised in training, the Jamaicans made the most of their set plays.

They went 2-0 up through McFarlane, who executed a sublime glancing header from Manning’s corner kick to beat the goalkeeper at his near post.

The introduction of Wilson and Junior Flemmings injected some tempo into the game as the Jamaicans continued their dominance. And it was heartbreak for the home crowd when Williams finished off a pass from Loza to put Jamaica 3-0 up.

Some members of the crowd felt they had seen enough and departed the venue. But the Miguel Coley-coached outfit was not done as Wilson and Flemmings wreaked havoc on their opponents defence.

The two displayed speed and skilful footwork and the combination brought goal number four when Flemmings orchestrated a build-up and played off a pass to Wilson, who shook off a defender before striking a powerful right-footed shot into the top-right corner of the goal.

And before the host could respond, the Jamaicans were at it again American-born Haddad Khouri, who replaced Loza, got a clear chance, but hit his effort over the crossbar in what turned out to be the final play of the game.