Marshall lifted by home debut

National senior player Alex Marshall is still celebrating after making his home debut for the Reggae Boyz against the Cayman Islands on Sunday at the National Stadium.

The 20-year-old Marshall, who came on as a substitute in the 70th minute for fellow winger Owayne Gordon, entertained the small crowd inside the National Stadium with his dazzling dribbling skills and clever off the ball movements.

In fact, Marshall came close to scoring in the 80th minute but after dribbling past three defenders, he skied his effort from 10 yards with the goalkeeper at his mercy.

"It was a wonderful feeling because when I came into the stadium I said to myself that couple of years ago, I was in the stands watching and now I am here as a player playing for my country," said Marshall.

"It (game) gave me a lot of confidence knowing that I was playing in front of my home crowd," he said.

The former St George's College Manning Cup star, who has been a part of the national set-up for the past year, added that he has been learning a lot from senior players in the team.

"I know where I want to go and so I am just taking it game by game because I have been around the overseas players and I am learning from them because I am hoping to make the transition to overseas football too," said Marshall.

"I think I need to spend more time working on my finishing because this is something that I have not been doing and so I am going to do this when I get back in training with my club team," said Marshall, who represents Cavalier in the Red Stripe Premier League.

Marshall, who started in the Reggae Boyz game against Ecuador last Friday in New Jersey, stated that there are other weak areas that he needs to work on in order to improve his game.

"I am learning with each game. After the Ecuador match I realised that I needed to make quicker and better decisions, and when the dribbling is not there, I need to play the one-twos and move into spaces," he said.