TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — It is never easy for a national team to play three games inside seven days. But that was the situation the Reggae Boyz faced and the fact of the matter is that they were well aware of the schedule.

And in a pivotal game in which their very survival depended on it, the Boyz served up their worst performance thus far in the hexagonal.

Goalkeeper

Donovan Ricketts was probably the only Reggae Boy who left the pitch fully satisfied that he left his all out there, as he led from the front, and though he conceded two goals, there’s nothing he could have done after being left exposed in the 10th minute and again two minutes from time when he was sold short by defender Daniel Gordon.

In between he was brilliant, as evidenced by his spectacular save in the 75th minute.

Grade B+

Defenders

Gave up too many crosses and allowed too much time for Honduran players to penetrate the 18-yard box. Fell asleep on the first goal inside 10 minutes and the sloppy play which led to the second goal, plus the ejection of Adrian Mariappa suggest that hardly anything went right for this still relatively new unit.

Grade D

Midfielders

They appeared lethargic and were extremely generous in giving away the ball, which stymied any progress the team had of building attacks. Forced attacking midfielder Jermaine Johnson to receive the ball too deep into his defensive area and thus gave him too much work to do to create any opportunities. He, too, was guilty of holding on to the ball for far too long. It is a day that the midfielder would most likely want to forget.

Grade C-

Forwards

Lived off scraps for most of the game, but had a few occasions when they could have turned their possession into serious threats, but the first touches left a lot to be desired. When Theo Robinson and Darren Mattocks were injected for their pace, they looked threatening to a certain point, before those moves petered out. Jermaine Beckford just never seemed to get anything right on the day.

Grade C