Head Coach Hubert Busby was a relieved man after the Jamaican women’s senior team beat South Africa 3-0 in the first game of the two-game friendly international series at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Friday night.

Team Captain Khadija Shaw’s second-half double was crucial for her as it took her international goal tally to 57, paving the way to what was a comfortable win, ending a 14 months span, dating back to July 2023 when the Reggae Girlz’s first-ever FIFA World Cup win, edging fellow Concacaf team Panama 1-0 in Australia.

Since then the Girlz have gone 17 straight games without a win, including games at the World Cup, Concacaf Women’s Championships, Pan-American Games, Concacaf Gold Cup qualifiers and friendlies against Brazil and France and had failed to score in their last four outings.

On Friday, Siobhan Wilson scored her first goal for Jamaica to open the scoring in the first half, directly from a corner while Shaw, who had not played for the team since the World Cup, secured the win in the second half.

South Africa’s Head Coach Desiree Ellis team said she was not surprised by the result as they had to leave behind a number of players in South Africa due to injuries and other reasons. She said jet lag might have some adverse effect on the players.

Busby, who returned as coach recently, described the results as “long overdue” in a post-game press conference, adding the performance was most pleasing.

“Obviously the win is the end result,” he said. “We’re here to win football matches but really it’s about the performance and I was really pleased. We talked about making sure that we complete a 90-minute performance.”

Busby says being defensively sound was also important.

“We haven’t kept clean sheets and we haven’t done a good enough job, and that’s the foundation of our success — making sure that we’re keeping clean sheets and keeping the opposition from scoring,” he said.

Busby singled out 19-year-old goalkeeper Liya Brooks, who made her senior debut in place of regular starter Rebecca Spencer, who, it was heard, was in the island but was not well enough to play on Friday.

“I think that that’s a really positive aspect to take out of this game,” he said. “I think also, it just has to be said, Liya Brooks, she comes in, makes her debut, looks like a veteran and again, that just goes to show that the depth and the programme that we’re building to have her come in and look flawless. She looks like she played 20 games today.”

A fair-sized crowd was on hand on Friday to see the Jamaicans take over the game early and took the lead in the 29th minute when Wilson’s corner curled into the far corner through a crowd of players.

Shaw just missed adding a second after she rounded South Africa’s goalkeeper Andile Dlamini and shot at the open goal from just inside the 18-yard box but watched as the ball hit the left upright and go into touch.

Two minutes after Brooks made her first save of the game, Shaw made the score 2-0 in the 55th minute, finishing off a brilliant team move.

Atlanta Primus played the ball on the right to Jody Brown who got by two defenders on the goal line and presented Shaw with a perfect pass to slot in from three yards out.

Dlamini pulled off one of two good saves, intercepting a cross from Primus in the 76th minute with Shaw waiting in the box to pounce but that only delayed the third goal.

Shaw would eventually get her second, in the 83rd minute when she dribbled through the South African defence and shot the ball under the lunging South African goalkeeper.