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Visiting Trinidad and Tobago national team coach Bertille St Clair and manager Richard Braithwaite opted to travel to Coventry City yesterday to see star striker Stern John score in a 1-1 League Championship draw with Watford.


Their decision to stop in the Midlands may have been prompted by a desire for a centralised location from which they would meet the country's overseas professionals who were employed in west, central and north England last night.

Pity they did not visit Wales, though.

It is debatable whether they could have learnt anything new about John from his weekend Championship outing but there was surely food for thought at Wrexham where three Trinidad and Tobago internationals were used by the relegation-threatened League One club.

Hector Sam, for one, would have taken them to the edge of their seats.

The ex-CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh attacker gave another indication of his offensive threat with a sparkling performance off the substitute's bench as Wrexham grabbed a last-gasp winner to edge Oldham 1-0 at the Racecourse ground.

It would have invoked fond memories for St Clair.

Sam scored an equally crucial goal against St Vincent and the Grenadines in a World Cup qualifier last October when T&T rebounded from a goal down to win 2-1. Sam made his first appearance of the qualifying campaign in that match and was not used since.

It has been a frustrating season for the tricky player but moments like yesterday's can go a long way towards compensating.

"I think that is the most important goal I have ever scored," Sam told the Sunday Express. "It drags a few more teams into (the relegation battle). Now all we need is a five-game winning spree and I think we will stay up."

Whether Wrexham-in 22nd place, at present-can beat the drop is another matter entirely and they rode their luck at times against a well-organised Oldham outfit.

Apart from the T&T trio, only two Wrexham players may be deemed of sufficient quality to merit a starting place at local Pro League team, Jabloteh. No surprise then that six foot seven central defender Dennis Lawrence might be the only Caribbean face at the Welsh club next season.

Sam and Carlos Edwards are out of contract this summer and their agent, Mike Berry, insisted that there were several suitors.

Edwards, in particular, is a target for higher division clubs and there were representatives from English Premier League club Blackburn Rovers and League Championship outfit Sheffield United at yesterday's match.

The former Defence Force midfielder offered glimpses of his potential as an attacking right wing back with the odd teasing run and delivery and looked Wrexham's classiest player in possession.

Wrexham manager Denis Smith's problem, though, was getting the ball to him regularly in dangerous positions.

His Oldham counterpart, Ronnie Moore, was awake to the threat and countered effectively with a 4-5-1 system to Smith's 3-5-2.

The visitors used veteran midfielder David Eyres as an orthodox left-winger to stunt Edwards' offensive ambition while he was routinely double marked when he ventured into the opposing half.

Only a close offside decision denied Moore early dividends as Eyres appeared unmarked in the Wrexham six-yard box to tap home from a right side cross in the 17th minute.

Perhaps justice was served, in a perverse way, when Wrexham striker Juan Ugarte was also harshly ruled offside after he successfully followed up on a shot from strike partner Chris Llewelyn.

It was the only indication of Ugarte's menace on the day. He spent the rest of the afternoon impersonating a clown on a banana peel and was replaced by Sam in the 64th minute.

Wrexham should have been a goal down by then as Lawrence lost possession trying to usher the ball over the goal line and it took a desperate clearance from sweeper Craig Morgan to thwart Eyres' goalbound shot.

Sam's entrance changed the balance of play. His strength, turn of pace and willingness to commit defenders immediately troubled Oldham and he created two plausible opportunities for his teammates before he snatched the winner himself.

Lawrence had pushed into a forward position and headed on a long punt upfield to another substitute, Scott Green, and Sam met the resulting cross with a stooping header at the edge of the six-yard box for the game's only goal.

It might be remembered as a pivotal moment for the "Red Dragons". St Clair would have been proud.