Portmore lose again as St Georges hold on to second place

Saturday, November 21, 2009 10:43 PM

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Tuesday, November 03, 2009

St Georges .....................1
Irving (21st)
Portmore United .............0

Former champions Portmore United slipped to their second consecutive defeat when they surrendered 0-1 to St Georges at their Ferdie Neita Park home on Sunday night.

St Georges midfielder Leon Irving struck the all-important goal in the 21st minute and then national defender Jermaine Taylor and company held out strongly to give the Portland-based team full points, which enabled them to remain in second place in the points standings on 21, two behind leaders and defending champions Tivoli Gardens.

Harbour View are next on 19 points, with just tomorrow's final round to complete the first phase of the league competition, ahead of Sunday's first end-of-round final between the top two teams slated for the National Stadium at 7:00 pm.

Winning coach Braxton Hyre was overjoyed with the result. "We needed these three points," he beamed at game's end. "Earlier we realised that Harbour View had won, so to remain ahead of them we really needed these three points.

"In the first half we went for it and in the second half we just played a different game, in terms of getting behind the ball and trying to hit them on the counter and in the end it paid off," he added, noting that though the first end-of-round final was important, he was more concerned with winning the league.

But as Hyre lapped up the sweet taste of victory, his opposite number, former national player Linval Dixon was left licking his wounds, after his team crashed to yet another disappointing result.

"We can't give up hope, we just have to try harder and continue the work," he argued. "... we know that when you are not winning the pressure will always come on, but we are searching hard, we are looking within ourselves, what we are doing wrong and where we go from here. We are not playing badly in defence, it is just in attack where we are not scoring our chances," he added.

Portmore United have managed a mere seven goals in 10 games thus far this season, including just three at home in four games. They have conceded eight goals.

As a result Dixon switched from the traditional 4-4-2 formation and employed a 3-4-3 system with the tall Newton Sterling playing at the point position flanked by Steven Morrissey and Carlington Smith, as they went in search of goals.

They created a few, the most notable being Mario Swaby's wastefulness from six yards, and Morrissey's blunder as the half ended.

For the second half the Taylor brothers marshalled the Portland team manfully to keep the homeside at bay.

Teams: Portmore United - Shawn Sawyers, Adrian Mitchell, Anthony Modeste, Tyrone Sawyers, Mario Swaby, Kevin Deerr (Ricardo Cousins 62nd), Kamar Bennett (Kemeel Wolfe 62nd), Michael Binns, Carlington Smith, Steven Morrissey, Newton Sterling (Roen Nelson 68th).

Booked: Bennett (7th).

Subs not used: D Kerr, B Bayliss, S Mundle, S Battiste.

Sporting Central Academy - Randel Huie, Jermaine Taylor, Ricardo Taylor, Ushane Dobson, Dwayne Holmes, Omar Davis, Andre Thomas, Leon Irving (Delroy James 68th), Nigel Reid (Daniel Shaw 68th, Richard Orett 82nd), Damion Reid, Damion Harwood.

Booked: R Taylor (45th), James (87th).
Subs not used: A Williams, K Clunis, R Scott, B Huie

Referee: Kevin Thomas
Assistant Referees: Keble Williams, Nicholas Anderson
Fourth Official: Oneal Clayton
Match Commissary: Charles Barrett

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