St Vincent and the Grenadines head coach Ezra Hendrickson will open camp on Sunday at Arnos Vale ahead of their crucial World Cup Qualifier against Anguilla on Wednesday, with several locally-based players making strong cases for inclusion following a productive three-match friendly series.

The Vincentians wrapped up their preparations with a 1-1 draw against the British Virgin Islands on Thursday night at Arnos Vale. Jerry Wiltshire gave the visitors a surprise lead on the stroke of half-time, but Brad Richardson equalised in the 85th minute to preserve SVG’s unbeaten run. The draw followed back-to-back victories over St Kitts and Nevis—3-1 and 3-0 over the past week.

While the performance against BVI fell below expectations, Hendrickson noted that the match offered an important opportunity to evaluate squad depth and highlighted some of the factors behind the dip in fluency.

“Last night was a bit of a let-down, if I’m honest,” he admitted. “We did not play very well. It was a disjointed effort, and we struggled to move the ball. We didn’t have guys getting on the ball, and then the defenders were left to play the ball long. That’s not our style. We’re not a team that plays long because we don’t have that size up front to hold the ball up. We have to break lines and build through the thirds—and we didn’t do that well yesterday. Some guys may have been tired, and we made six or seven changes, so that could have caused some disruption in rhythm.”

Despite the uneven display, the match allowed several local players to stake a strong claim for inclusion in the World Cup qualifying squad.

Kirtney Franklyn

“We’re going to start a camp on Sunday in preparation for the game on Wednesday,” Hendrickson said. “A couple of guys come to mind right off the bat—Kirtney Franklyn and Garrett Leigertwood. I thought those two really showed well throughout the three games. They’ve been with the team before but haven’t played a lot. These games showed they’re capable of helping when called upon.”

Among the standout performers was striker Chad Haynes, who netted twice in one of the wins against St Kitts and Nevis.

Chad Haynes

“He’s a number 9 and gives us a real presence up top,” Hendrickson said. “Also, Tevin Thompson—I thought he played extremely well in limited minutes. He’s dynamic, comfortable on the ball, plays with confidence and helps us break lines through the midfield.”

No new overseas-based players are expected for World Cup qualifiers, but Hendrickson emphasized the importance of the upcoming camp in restoring rhythm and improving efficiency in the attacking third.

“We’ll get back to training tomorrow and make sure that we get it right, because against Anguilla we need goals,” he said. “We have to be efficient in front of goal—we had chances against BVI, but we just didn’t take them.”

SVG will be hoping that in-form players like Haynes, Thompson, Leigertwood and Franklin can help provide the spark needed to kick off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a strong performance.