HARRISON, New Jersey — Debutants Simon Dawkins and Joel Grant were pleased with their effort in Monday’s friendly international game against Serbia at the Red Bull Arena here.

Though Jamaica were clear second best to the highly technical Europeans, Dawkins, the 26-year-old Derby County player, was excited to have got an international cap under his belt, despite the difficult circumstances leading up to the game.

“It went good,” was his immediate response to the Jamaica Observer at game’s end.

“It was hard to come into it seeing that I had a game (on Saturday against Queens Park Rangers in the League Championship play-off) and I haven’t really slept either, so it was hard to come into the game, but I’m delighted to get it out the way myself.”

Dawkins, who joined his teammates as the team bus was about to pull out for the New York Red Bulls Training Facility for training on Sunday, following his trans-Atlantic flight from England after the 0-1 loss on Saturday, looked comfortable and composed on the ball, and posed a threat to the Serbs in the match.

Despite just the one training session with new teammates, he was involved in the game and looked to be one for the future in the Jamaican set-up.

“The heat was on and the ground was a bit sticky and dry, plus they (Serbia) are a very, very good team, with loads of experience, so I thought we did well against them. We are very proud of what we gave out there,” he argued.

And in what could have been Jamaica’s best build-up play in the game, Dawkins belted a right-footer which forced goalkeeper Vladimir

Stojkovic to pull off a brilliant diving save, which evoked applause for both the attacker and the goalkeeper.

“I thought I did well out there today, but there is still more to come from me, but it was good to get my first 70 to 80 minutes under my belt and hopefully I can look forward to the next game,” he added.

Meanwhile, Grant, who is also 26 years old, and representing Yeovil Town in the League Championship, was a Jamaica Under-20 and Under-23 player, who has been ignored since.

He was ecstatic to be back in the Jamaican colours. He couldn’t stop smiling.

“Not bad, I’m delighted to be back,” he said.

“Obviously a 2-1 (loss) it would have been nice to come back with a win, but you know my first experience of it (senior level football) I really enjoyed it and I think that’s important in friendly games to try and enjoy it and to get back linking up with the team and to learn what my teammates can do.”

Grant operated as one of the midfielders, though he generally plays as a winger for Yeovil Town. And like Dawkins, he was highly involved and exhibited an appetite for the game, and more importantly, the requisite skills to form a part of coach Winfried Schaefer’s pool of players going forward.

He, too, emphasised the difficulties associated with the playing conditions on the day.

“It was difficult, the pitch was a bit dry, it was hot, and they are a very good team, at any level and they keep the ball really well, so we had to dig in and work hard, but like I said when you are playing with new teammates sometimes the communication isn’t quite there which makes it a bit more difficult, but overall we did quite well…”

He explained that the fact that some players have already ended their season some two to three weeks ago affected the fitness level of the team, which might have exasperated the conditions.

The man who claims that he had made numerous calls to the Jamaica Football Federation making himself available for selection to the Reggae Boyz squad, now he can’t wait for the remainder of the four-game series of friendly internationals.

“I’m very excited about the next few games because Serbia is a team that has been together for a few years, they know each other well, and to finish with a 2-1 score-line I think that will give us confidence going into the next game because we are working, we are building and these friendlies will be important for us,” he said.

The Boyz were scheduled to depart New York last evening for Zurich, Switzerland, where they are slated to face that World Cup-bound outfit in Luzern on Friday. They then journey to London for a game against highly ranked Egypt on June 4, before wrapping up the glamour tour with a game against 1998 World Cup champions France, in Lille, on June 8.