Jamaica's John-Ross Doyley dribbles past a Mexican defender during last night's friendly clash between the Under-17 teams at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium. The match ended 1-1. - Ian Allen

By Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

Jamaica's Under-17 Reggae Boyz plodded their way to a 1-1 draw with current world champions Mexico in the first of a two-leg friendly at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium last night.

After a goalless first half, the Jamaicans struck first when Bridgeport's Andre Steele fired home in the 57th minute. Steele was the beneficiary of the hard work of another substitute, Christopher Waugh. Less than a minute after being on the pitch, Waugh broke into the area to blast from the right side of goal. The shot was parried away by Mexico custodian, Alfredo Medina, and flew across the face of goal in the path of Steele, who tapped in the ball from six yards away. However, the Mexicans would soon find themselves level through hard-working midfielder Usiles Plascencia. He rose above a thicket of defenders to head past Jamaican custodian Oneil Wilson in the 77th minute.

A high looping corner across the face of goal saw Mexican defender Christian Vazquez unmarked in the area. His volley was pounded accidentally into the turf but the attempt bounced up nicely for Plascencia.

"Offensively, we still need a little more work. We gave up a goal on a corner and that was just sad, but we are working hard, and come April we will be competitive," said Jamaica coach David Hunt.

"Defensively, I think we forced them to make changes and that was good, and this was a good opportunity for some of the players to gain exposure," added Hunt, who made some eight changes.

In the end, the game turned out to be a fairly even encounter as both teams squandered a few goal-scoring opportunities before eventually finding their shooting boots. For the home team, the best fell to Glenmuir's John-Ross Doyley who charged goalwards, meeting a square whipped across goal by the industrious Dever Orgill. However, Doyley's attempt, which came flush off his boot, flew miles high of goal from no more than eight yards away.

Another good opportunity had fallen to Mexican frontman Daniel Fraire, who found himself with space in the box 10 yards away from goal. However, the striker could not get his control quite right and saw his shot charged down in the end.

"It was a good game for both teams and I think the result was a fair one," said Mexican coach Emmanuel Belase.

"So far we have achieved our objective of getting ourselves prepared for the next round of the World Cup qualification competition."