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Thu, Mar

Jones bids for women's coaching job with drawn matches.
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Interim Women's football coach Kenwyne Jones seemed to have made a case for himself for the permanent position of head coach of the team after two drawn international matches ahead of the World Cup Qualifiers which begins in February next year.

He told the Guardian Media Sports during Monday's post-match press conference following T&T's 2-2 tie with Panama, that he hopes to be given the nod of approval by the T&T Football Association, having seen so much potential in the women's team.

Despite two years of inactivity, the T&T women held what can be described as a decent-looking Panama team to consecutive draws- 0-0 on Thursday and 1-1 on Monday in its two international friendly matches at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Balmain, Couva.

Jones, who was appointed as interim head coach on October 18, four days before the team's first match, said he was totally impressed with the team: "I do think that we're happy with the way the team played after a lot of adjustments were made tactically, from the first game to the way we played the second game. I think we did a little bit more and I am happy to see that the players were able to take it on and attempt to make it happen."

He said: "Definitely, in the future, we're going to get better at it. This again is not the final squad, we have a lot more people to see, a lot more people that we do believe will add quality to what we have here and we're looking forward to seeing them. More than anything else, we have to continue the preparation and continue to work and get better each day. For the future, I have the interim period until the 30th of November, but as things stand, it will be up to the football association and the Normalisation Committee to be able to make whatever changes necessary or not, that's down to them. What I do know, is that I have total belief in the squad, those that are here, the staff, and presently, I do hope that I get to stay for the long run because I do see the potential in the team. When we are a complete squad, I do believe we have the potential to qualify for the World Cup, but it's just about doing the work in between, building up to the qualifiers."

Jones' interim position was made available upon the removal of then-coach, American Constantine Konstin who coincidentally was brought on stream following the sudden and surprised exit of Welshman James Thomas who resigned earlier this month to take up a job in the United Kingdom.

Jones' contract ends on November 30, and with little time with the team so far, he gave the country hope of a qualifying berth at the World Cup, particularly after Monday's game: "At this present time being with the team in such a short space of time, I am happy for the stage that we're at. Of course, I am disappointed that Panama was able to equalise from a set-piece so late in the game, but at the same time, it is a lesson for us to take forward. I do believe the team has a lot more room for improvement. I think everyone can agree on that, but I do believe we're very happy with the performances that we've had so far. It's definitely been a change from the first game we played against Panama to now," he explained.

Meanwhile, newcomer Chelcy Ralph and veteran Kennya Cordner expressed similar sentiments, saying though they did not win from the result, they won by executing the plan that was mapped out to them by the coach.

According to Ralph, " We came out as a team with a game plan in mind, we got the lead and we held on. But in the end, we didn't get the win, but it was a win in what we had planned to do. Just coming into the team from school football and joining the likes of Maylee Attin-Johnson, Yaya, Rhea, Baby, Karyn, it's ecstatic. Just seeing these players and working with them, you learn so much from them."

Cordner said: "Today was pretty amazing. We went out there with a game plan as Chelcy said, and we fought for 95 minutes and even though we didn't get the win, we still went out there and put our best foot forward, fought for each other and we drew."