Trinidad and Tobago's under 17 men's team secured 3-1 win over Suriname in their Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Under-17 World Cup qualifying encounterat Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva on Thursday night.
The victory sees T&T just one point away from progressing to the final CONCACAF round and they must get it from Guyana tonight at Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain, starting 7 p.m.
That match is part of a double-header, with Suriname facing group whipping boys British Virgin Islands (BVI) from 5 p.m.
BVI have conceded 36 goals in their first two matches without scoring a goal. T&T beat them 23-0 and they also lost 13-0 to Guyana.
Against the Guyanese, Cooper wants nothing but full points.
"We are pulling out all the stops to get three points," Cooper said. "[It] doesn't matter who we play, what the opposition is, we're going to get three points. We have to qualify for [the] CONCACAF [round]."
Trinidad and Tobago got first half goals from striker Kishun Seecharan in the 28th minute and winger Akeem Garcia in the 39th for a 2-1 half-time lead, despite an own goal from left-back Maurice Ford (32nd minute).
Jabari Mitchell also struck from midfield for the home team in the 48th, with a little help from Suriname goalkeeper Savio Proeger, to ensure the hosts had no late nervous moments.
T&T started brightly and, just as in their previous match versus BVI, fluffed their early chances. Seepersad had two glaring misses, striker Brent Sam was denied by desperate defending, and Josiah Trimmingham headed wide from close range.
Cooper's boys controlled the midfield and Suriname responded by defending in bunches, allowing T&T to get shots off at will.
It was no surprise when Seecharan got the breakthrough, his blast from beyond 25 metres cannoning off the onrushing defender to loop over Proeger, who was off his line.
Before the small but lusty home crowd could celebrate properly, though, Suriname were back level as midfielder Sorencio Julianns snuck through the Trinidad and Tobago defence. In trying to clear, Ford slid the ball high into his own net.
Ford would have been grateful to Garcia for restoring the lead before the break. The speedy winger had caused the most problems for the Suriname defence before then and, given a lovely diagonal feed from Sam in the middle, thumped his right footer back across Proeger and in to goal.
Soon after the break Mitchell stretched that lead, testing Proeger low from 25 metres, and the custodian bent for the tame effort and let it trickle through him.
Aside from the own goal, T&T goalie Stephon Seepersad had little to trouble him, his defence preventing two late raids from Suriname.
Trinidad and Tobago again let chances slip in the second half with a Sam bullet from 18 metres rocking the upright and Mitchell and substitute midfielder Aikim Andrews confused defenders, but were unable to get their shots over the line.