IT was a game in which overall execution mattered more than the result, and so one can understand why Head Coach Lorne Donaldson was not too impressed with the Senior Reggae Girlz’ 2-0 win over Sheffield United in Leicester, England, on Monday.

Despite goals from Chantelle Swaby (54th) and substitute Cheyna Matthews (83rd), the Girlz, though dominant in possession, displayed very little quality throughout.

They were particularly horrible in the first half as they struggled to string passes together — especially in the attacking third — and gave the few hundred spectators inside the over 30,000-capacity King Power Stadium nothing to write home about.

Their best effort at that point was in the 42nd minute when Captain Khadija “Bunny” Shaw unleashed a left-footed shot that was parried by goalkeeper Fran Stenson.

However, they showed more purpose after the break and belatedly found the go-ahead goal nine minutes into the resumption when Paige Bailey-Gayle’s weighted corner was expertly headed home by Swaby at near post.

Donaldson went to his bench and the substitutes contributed to more fluent ball movement that resulted in breaching what was a disciplined Sheffield United defence on a few occasions.

But it wasn’t until the closing stages that they found a second after Shaw, on one of her menacing solo efforts, rounded the well-advanced goalkeeper before playing a pass across goal for Matthews to tap in from close range.

“We didn’t execute very well. We got it done in the end but the execution was poor so we have to get much better than that,” Donaldson told the Jamaica Observer.

“I think our energy level was lacking in the first half. We were a bit flat but the second half we showed a little bit more urgency and we got a couple of goals so I think the second half is something we can build on, but we have to be more efficient in our overall execution,” he added.

With the game being used as part of their preparations for the Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer, Donaldson was hoping to fine-tune technical and tactical flaws, which explains his disappointment about the minimal improvement.

“That’s why we came here; we are trying to get that cohesion going but we were missing a lot of simple passes and we weren’t good where our functional technical work is concerned. You have to be functionally good before you can put in tactics, so our functional technical work has to be better,” Donaldson insisted.

“I think our awareness to switch the point of attack was better late in the game. We have been stressing it all week that we have to switch our point of attack, and the players who were watching on the bench realised what was going on so they went in and ensured the execution was a little better but we still have a lot of work to do,” he stressed.

It is with that in mind why the tactician is not intent on waiting on the next window scheduled for July 10-18, which is only a few days away from the World Cup kick-off scheduled for July 20, with the final set for August 20.

Instead, he is optimistic about a possible two-game send-off series in June to assist in the tuning up process.

“We are trying to turn that into a two-game series. I don’t know the opponent as yet but hopefully we can get two games…one in Miami and one in Jamaica, which will be the actual send-off game, so that’s our aim right now.

“We are talking to some teams and hopefully we can get at least one of them. We still have to clear it with the federation to make sure everything is good but that is our wish,” he ended.

For the World Cup the Girlz are drawn in Group F to face Brazil, France and Panama.