The Barbados Tridents are staring down the barrel of demotion in the Concacaf Nations League.
Three days after being hammered 5-0 at home by the Dominican Republic, the Tridents were again on the wrong side of a humiliating 5-2 thrashing by the same opponents on Monday night at the Estadio Cibao.
Barbados actually took a surprising lead in the 10th minute when Thierry Gale netted from the penalty spot, but a hat-trick from Dorny Romero sealed the visitors’ fate and gave the Dominican Republic their third win in four games while leaving the Bajans winless.
The results mean the Tridents remain rooted firmly in last place in Group B of League B with no points, having lost all four of their games to date.
They also have a woeful goal difference of -13, the worst of any League B team.
To make matters worse, the Tridents have conceded a staggering 18 goals in their four matches, the highest number of goals allowed across Leagues A, B, C, or D and twice as many as they conceded in the previous season of the Nations League.
It means Barbados will have to win their two remaining matches against unbeaten Group leaders Nicaragua on November 17 and Monsterrat, three days later, if they are to avoid relegation to League C.
The match began with a glimmer of hope for Barbados as a free-kick into the penalty area found Hallam Hope, but he squandered the opportunity to find the back of the net.
Minutes later, Barbados was awarded a penalty when the the Dominican Republic’s goalkeeper Xavier Valdez brought down Shane Codrington in the six-yard box.
Thierry Gale stepped up and clinically converted the penalty to give Barbados the lead and a glimmer of hope.
In the 12th minute, Liam Brathwaite made a crucial save to deny the Dominican Republic an equaliser.
However, in the 17th minute, Riki Alba, a former Norway youth international, skillfully manoeuvred past the Barbadian defence to level the score at 1-1.
One minute later, Alba almost scored again with a well-timed header, but Brathwaite was alert and prevented the Fredrikstad FC attacker from finding the back of the net.
But it was Romero who terrorized Barbados’ defence throughout the 90 minutes of play.
His first goal came in the 29th minute courtesy a beautiful header from a corner, where he was left almost unmarked.
After the halftime break, Romero struck again with another header, this time from a cross into the penalty area to extend his team’s lead to 3-1 in the 48th minute.
In the 59th minute, a slip by Brathwaite led to Heinz Mörschel tapping in the fourth goal for the Dominican Republic.
Gale scored his second goal of the match from the penalty spot in the 66th minute after being fouled in the box to make it 4-2, but Romero added his third goal
with another header to put the match out of Barbados’ reach.
