Jordan Vieira scored the decisive item as T&T senior men's hockey team continued preparations for next month's FIH World Hockey League Round Two qualifiers with a 2-1 defeat of a President's XI at the National Hockey Centre, Tacarigua on Thursday night.
With England-based T&T men's hockey standout, Kwandwane Browne in the Glen "Fido" Francis-coached T&T men's line-up the national team was keen to cap off a one-week camp conducted by Francis and Browne, an English High Performance Hockey coach and English national teams assistant coach with a win.
The national training squad took a 1-0 lead through last year's T&T Hockey Board "Player of the Year" Akim Toussaint in the 17th minute which it took into the half.
However, on the resumption, out-of-favour national forward Shane Legerton got the President's XI level in the 52nd, but four minutes later, Vieira got the winner for Francis' men as they look ahead to the World League qualifiers set for Chula Vista, San Diego, California, USA from February 28 to March 8.
Following the match, Browne was swamped by a number of young hockey players who campaigned in the T&T Secondary Schools Outdoor League and signed a few autographs for the players who stayed back to have a glimpse at him in action.
In California, the T&T hockeymen, silver medal winners at last November's Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Mexico, will compete against USA, Russia and Canada in one pool while Austria, Chile, Ireland and Italy are in the other round-robin group.
At the end of the round-robin, the teams will meet in cross-over quarterfinal matches followed by semifinals, third place and final playoffs.
For the qualifiers in the USA, Browne will be making a return to the T&T squad after missing out on the FIH round one qualifiers in Jamaica where T&T emerged victorious and also the CAC Games, where it won silver.