Africa-Press – Gambia. The men’s national team warmed up for their upcoming international friendly against The Gambia with a 2-1 win over Algeria A in a behind closed doors game at the Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai. The side saw a number of changes from last month’s win 1-0 against Bahrain as Head Coach Danny Hay looked to experiment with his wider squad. Tommy Smith, Francis De Vries, Matthew Garbett, Elliot Collier and Andre de Jong all started in place of Liberato Cacace, Joe Bell, Elijah Just, Joe Champness and Chris Wood. The All Whites took the lead in the 16th minute through Andre de Jong. An early cross from Francis de Vries, called into his debut national team squad, found de Jong in the box who headed it past the Algerian keeper. The lead was doubled just after half-time through Callum McCowatt, with the FC Helsingør forward scoring from a freekick in the 47th minute. The Algerian side got one back in the 68th minute but it wasn’t enough as the All Whites came out on top.
After the match head coach Danny Hay was pleased with the result but noted there was room for improvement: “It was great to give some of the boys who haven’t had as much of an opportunity in the previous games a chance tonight, they did well.
“Great to get another win but we know there were a number of areas we need to look at ahead of The Gambia game so that’s what we’ll be working on over the next couple of days.”
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