Sport

Reid's goal sinks Portmore United

By KWESI MUGISA, Staff Reporter

Waterhouse's Adrian Reid - Winston Sill

WATERHOUSE F.C DUG deep to come away with a hard-earned three points after beating second-place Portmore United 1-0 in yesterday's all-important Wray and Nephew National Premier League fixture at the Drewsland Mini-stadium.

Portmore United would have gone into Drewsland looking to regain the lead from current leaders Harbour View who forged ahead in the standings when they beat Tivoli Gardens 2-0 on Wednesday. Their plans looked even more on target in the 40th minute when a high-footed challenge by Irvino English on Portmore's Jason Morrison saw the former being ejected after picking up his second yellow card.

Scoreless affair

In a game characterised by tough tackling and strong determined defending, the first half remained a scoreless affair as the few chances that were made were not capitalised on. Much as in their Red Stripe Cup triumph against Harbour View, Portmore saw their opponents begin the half, a man down.

On this occasion, however, they were met by stubborn defending and Waterhouse refused to give an inch. Waterhouse stole the game in the 62nd minute when a corner that saw the usually reliable Shawn Sawyers strangely fall to the ground, found Adrian Reid who headed into an unguarded net to give his team the all-important goal and the win.

Portmore's coach, Paul Young, was not pleased with the result and believes there may have been a few missed calls.

"I have to question the calls because it was obvious that the goalkeeper was punched on the play. There is no reason why he would be on the ground, but overall, our transition game wasn't where it should have been and it cost us."

Newly reinstated coach Geoffrey Maxwell was, on the other hand, quite pleased with his team and confident that they can achieve the ultimate goal.

"We have been training the last few days 10 versus 11 after we saw what happened to Harbour View because during the course of the game, these things happen so we wanted to be prepared. I still believe and am very confident that Waterhouse will win the National Premier League."

Waterhouse are now third in the standings on 63 points ahead of Sunday's encounter against Constant Spring at the Spring complex. Portmore are also on 63 points but have a superior goal difference. Harbour View lead with 65 points.