A crucial injury and fatigue were two of the main reasons head coach Theodore Whitmore blamed for his team’s lethargic performance in their 1-1 draw with Panama at the National Stadium on Friday night.

Jamaica took an early lead in the 22nd minute against the run of play, when Bristol City midfielder 28-year-old Marvin Elliot nodded home a Demar Phillips right-sided corner for his first goal for Jamaica.

But Luis Hernandez earned a share of the points for Panama, firing home from just outside the box in the 66th minute past a diving Donovan Ricketts in goal.

It was two essential points dropped at home and coach Whitmore admitted the game was not the sort of result he was looking for especially after losing top defender Nyron Nosworthy at the stroke of half-time through injury.

“Basically when we lost Nosworthy it changed the whole complexion of our team and caused us to make a lot of adjustments and that didn’t help the team. But again we have to give thanks for the one point,” he noted.

“Tonight’s game is not the sort of result we were looking for but unfortunately we have to prepare ourselves for good moments and bad moments. We are looking forward now to the Costa Rica game and as I said before, any of the games we play, it won’t be easy and tonight’s game wasn’t an easy one,” he added.

And how right he was, as Jamaica where playing second fiddle to the quicker and slicker moving Panamanians throughout and it wasn’t until late in the contest with the introduction of Theo Robinson of Derby County and Jermaine Johnson of Sheffield Wednesday that Jamaica showed any real threatening pace.

“I can agree that, especially in the second half, the team was a bit fatigued but as I said before, we have eight games to play and we just have to move on,” said Whitmore.

Rudolph Austin, Elliott, Jobi McAnuff and Gareth McLeary all struggled in midfield to contain the slick moving Canalaros or even keep possession themselves and Whitmore was cognisant of the fact.

“Basically our engine room — the midfield — didn’t operate the way we wanted, so we will have to go back and look at tonight’s performance and take it from there.”

“It was a very evenly contested game… (and) as I said before I know the Panama team is a very tough team to play against and we expected a tough game and they came and played a tough game,” he reiterated.

Meanwhile, for Panamanian coach Julio Dely Valdez, it was little disappointing outplaying the opponent and leaving with only one point.

“I believe the tie here in Jamaica is very important although we came here to win and taking a point is crucial… and any team that comes to play in Kingston is going to have a rough time because Jamaica is a good football team,” said Valdes, via an interpreter.

“I was surprised how Jamaica played. I expected them to come out in their classic style play which they did, but the only thing I was expecting, which they did not do, was pressure more on the defensive court and high press,” he noted.

Teams:

Jamaica — (1) Donovan Ricketts (captain), (2) Nyron Nosworthy (Omar Daley 45th), (19) Adrian Mariappa, (12) Demar Phillips, (6) Jermaine Taylor, (4) Marvin Elliott, (17) Rodolph Austin, (10) Joel McAnuff (Jermaine Johnson 78th), (22) Garath McCleary, (21) Luton Shelton, (7) Jermaine Beckford (Theo Robinson 64th).

Subs not used: (13) Dwayne Miller, (23) Duwayne Kerr, (5) Alvas Powell, (18) Jermaine Hue, (15) Je-Vaughn Watson, (11) Dane Richards, (20) Andre Lewis, (3) Lloyd Doyley, (9) Ryan Johnson.

Booked: Beckford (17th), Phillips (45th+), Shelton (45th+), Daley (56th), McCleary (82nd).

Panama — (12) Luis Mejia, (23) Felipe Baloy, (5) Ramon Torres, (17) Luis Henriquez, (2) Leonel Parris, (6) Gabriel Gomez (19 Alberto Quintero 78th), (8) Marcos Sanchez, (22) Rolando Escobar (10 Nelson Barahona 63rd), (11) Armando Cooper (20 Anibal Godoy 54th), (7) Blas Perez, (18) Luis Tejada.

Subs not used: (1) Kevin Melgar, (21) Alex Rodriquez, (3) Harold Cummings, (9) Edwin Aguilar, (13) Jean Carlos Cedeno, (14) Juan Perez, (15) Alcibiades Jimenez, (4) Carlos Rodriquez

Booked: Sanchez (60th), Gomez (69th), Quintero (88th).

Referee: Hector Rodriquez (Honduras).

Assistant Referee 1: Oscar Velasquez (Honduras).

Assistant Referee 2: Christian Ramirez (Honduras).

Fourth Official: Raul Castro Zuniga (Honduras).

Referee Assessor: Carlos Gonzalez Iribarren (Mexico).