St Vincent and the Grenadines secured a confident 3-1 victory over St Kitts and Nevis in an international friendly at the Samuel Williams Sporting Complex on Tuesday night, continuing their preparations for next month’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

The win was especially encouraging for Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson, who fielded a squad composed entirely of local-based players as part of a strategy to build greater depth and continuity within the national team. Despite the absence of several foreign-based regulars, the Vincy Heat produced a composed and clinical performance.

“We came out a little sloppy,” Hendrickson admitted. “A lot of the guys haven’t played together much because we didn’t have any foreign-based players. It took us maybe the whole first half to really get into the flow of things.”

Following a halftime reset and tactical adjustments, St Vincent and the Grenadines returned with renewed focus and sharper execution.

“We tweaked some things at halftime—talked about what we needed to do differently tactically—and I thought the second half was much better,” Hendrickson said. “We stuck to our game plan and played the way we’re supposed to.”

Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson

Azinho Solomon, who opened the scoring, Kirtney Franklin and Malcolm Stewart were the goalscorers for the home team. Gvaune Amory had levelled the scores for the visitors early in the first half before the home side took control in the second.

The win, according to Hendrickson, also served as a valuable benchmark.

“St Kitts is a very good team. They’re ranked higher than us in the FIFA rankings. So this was a chance to measure ourselves and see where we’re at, where we need to get to. To come out with the victory was very good for us.”

Hendrickson was particularly pleased with how the local players responded, reinforcing the programme’s emphasis on domestic development.

“A lot of times we depend so much on our foreign-based players that when we don’t have them available, it doesn’t go so well,” he said. “We want to make sure that we have a good core of local players who are improving and developing, so when the foreign-based players do come, it’s more of a complement—not them having to carry the team.”

The team now shifts focus to their upcoming World Cup qualifying matches in June, where they will face Anguilla and Puerto Rico. Additional friendlies are planned in the lead-up as the squad continues to gel and sharpen its competitive edge.

“We’ve been making progress,” Hendrickson said. “We’re not quite where we need to be yet, but it’s a process—and we’re happy with the direction we’re heading.”

The Vincent Heat's next assignment is against the British Virgin Islands on May 29 at Arnos Vale.