“It’s not all about winning,” enlightened W Connection head coach Stuart Charles Fevrier in an interview with ttproleague.com this week.
Connection, six-time winner of the First Citizens Cup and eight-time finalist, went under 4-3 on penalty kicks against T&TEC FC on Friday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in the semi-final round following a 1-1 draw.
“We always try and win everything that we play in, but winning is not everything. We want to win with quality and although we were defeated in the semi-finals we are playing quality football,” Fevrier said.
“So I was still quite pleased with our effort (against T&TEC),” continued the St. Lucian.
He added, “Our players have been together for twelve weeks. It’s a very young team and we have been showing a lot of progress.”
Connection conceded a first half goal scored by former player Romauld Aguillera in the 21st minute, but leveled the scores 1-1 in the 70th minute with a strike from 19 yearold Jerrel Britto who has scored in all four games played for the Fevrier coached side this season.
Britto a newcomer to Connection this season, is one of the many teenaged names in Fevrier’s squad made up of mostly U23 players with the likes of Shahdon Winchester, Kenaz Williams, Jomol Williams, Neil Benjamin, Akeem Benjamin, Mekeil Williams, goalkeeper Andre Marchan and 16 year-old Matthew Woo Ling.
“I just thought on the day I was still satisfied with play,” continued the Connection coach. “A draw was a fair result. Both teams didn’t create much scoring opportunities, and we just lost on penalties. It happens to a lot of good teams, so I put pressure on the players.
Although we had more control of the game, we didn’t create many chances. T&TEC always played with numbers behind the ball and it made it difficult for us to penetrate them,” said Fevrier.
When asked about his personal disappointment of not reaching this year’s Final, of the tournament he won in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, Fevrier responded, “Personally I don’t study these things when it comes to past records and so on. I just keep working hard and try my best to win everything.
And that has always been the effort of W Connection. Try and win everything that we play in. We are back on the training pitch now and it remains the same that we are going to attempt to win everything left to play in.”