World Cup (Q): Gambia showed “best version of themselves” in Seychelles walloping – McKinstry

Gambia national team head coach Johnathan McKinstry praised his charges for securing a huge 7-0 victory against Seychelles in their final Group F fixture of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers at the National Sports Complex Pitch 1 in Mauritius on Tuesday.

Abdoulie Manneh led the way for the Scorpions after he grabbed a hat-trick in the 24th, 67th and 75th minutes respectively. However, it was Adama Sidibeh who opened the floodgate of goals with only two minutes played before Manneh made it 2-0.

Sidibe slotted home his second, and the electric Musa Barrow scored twice in quick succession in the 47th and 52nd minutes. Two simple finishes from Manneh then completed his treble as Gambia strolled to their fourth win of the campaign.

Seychelles registered a record breaking scoreline

“We’ll overall I am quite pleased with the performance, we came off a bad result against Gabon, we were very frustrated in the result against Gabon, but there was a lot of positive to take from this game, and a lot of learning moments from the game as well,” said McKinstry after the game.

“It was a game that we knew, coming up against a team like Seychelles, we wanted to sort of show the best version of ourselves, in almost all the games, and I think we did a lot of that, obviously we registered a record breaking scoreline.

“Our best ever was 6-0, but they managed to do that, score seven, obviously Musa Barrow was superb, and Manneh got a hat-trick, which I am told is a first hat-trick for a Gambian player at this stage, there are a lot of positives from this game.

He concluded: “It is just nice to finish the campaign on a real high note, we know it is not qualification for the tournament, but it is definitely towards that target, now we go into a series of friendly matches over the winter and next summer, and look we want to prepared when the AFCON draws is made next summer.

“It is a nice way to finish, there is a lot to work on, on and off the field, but we are on a good path.”

The win saw Gambia reach 13 points from four wins, one draw and five defeats while Seychelles finished bottom of the six-team group without a point. The Island nation lost all 10 of their matches and conceded a whopping 53 goals in the process.

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