McCook's Pen's Corey Sewell executes an over-head kick in front of Waterford's Adrian Evans during a St Catherine Division One Football match at the Waterford High School playing field on Tuesday. The game ended 1-1. - anthony minott

Waterford coach, Gary Scott, pointed to a lack of quality finishing by the home team, as the primary reason for them having to settle for a share of the points in a 1-1 draw with McCook's Pen at the Waterford high school field on Tuesday.

"We had three easy chances in the game and we gave it away, I have to give the second half to McCook's Pen, but we still had chances to win the match," he said.

Perhaps still not yet match-fit coming off the holiday break, both sets of players on the pitch struggled to keep possession in the first half. Waterford were first to find the back of the net, when they were awarded a penalty, after a late challenge by McCook's Pen goalie Mark Reid on Waterford forward Michael Jones, on the stroke of half-time. Referee Basil Salmon pointed to the spot, and Gavin Campbell netted the penalty.

Easy channces missed

McCook's Pen dominated the second half, but failed to score after several easy chances. Yet, Waterford could easily have gone 2-0 up 10 minutes after the resumption, against the run of play, when Diego Wilson caused the keeper to leave his line and crossed to the back post, but Jahvon Roberts surprisingly headed wide of the mark about two yards away from the goal.

McCook's Pen made them pay for that miss, and five minutes later, substitute Dean Bradshaw equalised from a Corey Sewell corner kick.

McCook's Pen got chances to collect all three points but wasted their opportunities. Dowen Brown was guilty on at least two occasions. The most blatant saw the forward with only the goalie to beat, lobbed his effort on the crossbar, much to the amazement of his fans and teammates.

Happy coach

McCook's Pen's coach, Aaron Lawrence, was happy with the point. "I'm happy with a point, anytime you play away from home you need at least a draw." He added that the Christmas break affected his team's match fitness. The coach however pointed out, that key adjustments in his defensive third and mid-field, had eventually brought his team more possession and better attacking options.

"In the second half I made some changes, I pulled a defender and put him in midfield to get more tackling in the middle, from then we controlled the midfield and the game," he said.

In other games, Passagefort drew 0-0 with Treadways, while Thunderbolts edge National Irrigation 1-0.