Shaw at the double as Girlz blank South Africa 3-0

A BRACE by star forward Khadija Shaw and a first half strike from Siobhan Wilson lifted the Reggae Girlz to a 3-0 win over South Africa in an international friendly match at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Friday night.

Wilson produced a moment of brilliance in the 28th minute when she scored from a corner kick to give the home team a 1-0 lead. It was her first international goal. In the second half, Shaw scored from close range off an assist from Jody Brown in the 55th minute and completed her double in the 82nd minute to register her 57th international goal.

Reggae Girlz head coach Hubert Busby said keeping a clean-sheet in the game was a big positive.

“We haven’t done a good enough job at keeping clean-sheets and that was a foundation of our success tonight. We have to prevent the opposition from scoring," Busby said.

He was also full of praise for debutant 19-year-old Lia Brooks who came on and played very well.

"It shows the depth of the squad we are building to have her come in and look flawless. She looks like she has played 20 games today. I am happy for her and the team as a whole because we defended well and kept a clean-sheet,” Busby said.

“The win is the end result. We are here to win football matches but it is also about the performance. I was really pleased, it was a complete team performance and I am really happy,” he added.

Shaw said, it was an amazing feeling being back home and playing in front of fans and family.

“It is always good to put back the jersey on,” Shaw said. “The past couple months it was difficult with my injury but I took that time to work on myself, mentally and physically. I wanted to make sure I was fully fit and ready when I came back and ready to go. I think for me, I always look where I can improve and I think I missed a chance just before I scored the second goal. I am where I need to be at the moment but I have more to improve on."

Meanwhile, South Africa's head coach, Dr Desiree Ellis, said it was always going to be a challenge for the group of players they brought to Jamaica.

“When you’re playing against a quality player like Shaw, you know you have to be on top of your game. We knew it was going to be a physical game and when you look at our stature, we knew that is one of the tests we need to pass playing up against a physical side. I think we passed that test but when you lose the ball in your half, it is normally when you get punished. We had a few chances and maybe if we had taken the one and two chances that we had, we would have been closer in the game," Dr Ellis said.

“We needd to test as many players as we can. We need to ensure that everyone gets an opportunity to play as we are preparing for Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON). We also picked up a couple injuries just before we left and weren’t able to replace those players. At times (in tonight's match) we didn’t keep possession and protect the ball. The second half, it was just tired legs and we knew that would be a challenge with jet lag and long travel,” she added.

The teams will meet again on Monday, December 2 at the Montego Bay Sports Complex at 7 p.m. in their second and final friendly international.