WILLEMSTAD, Curaçao -- Guadeloupe defeated Sint Maarten 2-1 on Monday night to put themselves on the verge of clinching promotion to League B and a place in the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup playoffs. 

The victory was Guadeloupe’s third straight and they retained a flawless record in the Nations League proper. 

Twenty-two year old Kevin Moeson earned a penalty early on and Raphael Mirval converted in the 11th minute to get things going for Les Gwada Boys. 

The USBM striker doubled his tally and the lead for Guadeloupe in the 36th minute with a simple finish thanks to a brilliant ball from Dimitri Ramothe. 

It looked to be more of the same story in the second half as Quentin Annette stepped up to take another penalty in the 54th minute, but Gikay Croes made a fine lunging save to his right.

Running with momentum off the big save, it was Sint Maarten who struck first in the second half, when Gerwin Lake buried a penalty of his own in the 75th minute. Lake’s fourth goal of the competition set up a tense final 15 minutes.

The equalizer never came, and Guadeloupe held on for a 2-1 victory to put them six points and eight goals clear of second-place Turks and Caicos Islands with just two matches to go.