Sport

Portmore whip Arnett 3-0

By PAUL-ANDRE WALKER, Staff Reporter

Arnett Gardens' Jonathan Williams (right) is cornered by Portmore United's Ryan Powell and Anthony Modeste (left) during yesterday's Red Stripe Champions Cup quarter-final match at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex. Portmore won the game 3-0. - Carlington Wilmot

PORTMORE UNITED LAST night stormed into the semi-finals of the Red Stripe Champions Cup after a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Arnett Gardens on the back of a Roen Nelson brace at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.

Starting the game with a 1-0 deficit to make up, Portmore got onto the scoresheet through a Wolry Wolfe free-kick in the ninth minute and never looked back after that, adding to their tally in the 30th through a Roen Nelson penalty.

Nelson was again on the scoresheet on the stroke of half-time to complete what was a 3-1 aggregate win.

Arnett had a woeful start as Wolfe got a free-kick in what looked like a harmless position.

From a tight angle, Wolfe smacked a low drive past goalkeeper Julian McLeish at his near post.

With that goal, Arnett fans knew a game was on but for some reason that was never transferred to the players, who never looked like scoring.

Arnett looked even worse after referee Peter Prendergast pointed to the spot when Nelson was fouled in the area.

A minute later, Arnett were down to 10 men because Prendergast spotted an off-the-ball incident between Everton Bunsie and Wolfe.

Dangerous play

Arnett didn't suffer too much from the loss though as Prendergast was again in the action, sending off Portmore's Demar Stewart for dangerous play.

Down to 10 men, Portmore made better use of the spaces on the field and Nelson took advantage of the worst marking job by any Premier League team this season.

With Arnett pushing forward in an attempt to eke out an equaliser, Nelson received a pass just inside of his own half after Christopher Dawes intercepted an ill-timed Jonathan Williams pass. Nelson then, with no defender within range, ran over 40 yards to easily tap the ball past McLeish, who had inexplicably stayed on his line.

The second-half was really a training session for Portmore, who substituted all their top players with the game already over.

After the game, Portmore coach Paul Young heaped praises on his team.

"Everything worked perfectly today," he said. "The game plan was to the 'tee', the players executed and we could have scored more. I'm really proud of the guys. We set goals and they did all that we asked of them to," said Young. Losing coach Michael Tulloch blamed indiscipline for his team's demise.

"The result justified how we played," he said. "It was indiscipline on the part of the players because they didn't stick to the function that they were asked to, just like in the first game."

In the day's other semi-final, the fairy tale run of Hanover's Sandy Bay came to an end after they played to an exciting 2-2 draw with Reno only to lose 3-1 in the dreaded penalty shoot-out.

Reno will play against Portmore United in the semi-final slated to start on March 15.