Troy Smith - Ian Allen

SAINTE-LUCE, Martinique:

TROY SMITH chose a real nice time to score his first international goal for Jamaica, hitting an extra-time winner to hand the Reggae Boyz a 2-1 win over a Grenada team that had been lucky up to that point, in the Digicel Caribbean Cup semi-final.

With his teammates missing chance after chance, midfielder Rodolph Austin, who had been bursting forward regularly down both flanks - from where he delivered many crosses - made another venture on the right wing and cut back the ball to send the defender flying off the pitch. With enough time to pick his pass, Austin then measured a long left-footed cross to the back post.

It floated perfectly to Smith who, in one motion, controlled and beat the one defender standing in his way, then carved a path through the grass with a well-measured grounder across the goalkeeper into the far post.

"I just feel good to score my first international goal," he said, with a smile as broad as he reflected on the glorious moment. "I just did it for the team."

They really needed it. Anxiety was beginning to creep in, as the team had completely dominated Grenada and created numerous of wide open scoring opportunities, yet stood level at 1-1.

Dane Richards, a tormentor of defenders throughout this tournament, had given the Jamaicans the lead at the seventh minute, while Kithson Bain had equalised for the Grenadians four minutes later.

Smith, now 23, has been developing his talent at Village United since crossing over from Harmony Hall at age 14.

Little did he know he would make the decisive strike in the encounter, until head coach Theodore Whitmore summoned him from the bench and inserted him for left-sided midfielder-defender Shaun Francis at the 73rd minute.

"I didn't know that I was going to go out there, but I was saying to myself that if I go out there I'll really have to put away one of those chances, because we were missing a whole heap and we weren't shooting a lot," recalled Smith, who left Bounty Hall Primary for Muschett High.

"So I was saying to myself, and I said to Jimmy when I reached on the field, that 'me just want one to score' and I get it, so I made use of it. It felt great," he noted, upon realising the ball was in the net."

It certainly was a real nice moment to score.