BARBICAN inched closer to their fourth consecutive Sherwin Williams Women’s League title after Jody-Ann McGregor netted a hat-trick in a 4-0 blanking of ‘nine-man’ Portmore Strikers in the first-leg of the two-way decider at the Waterhouse mini-stadium on Saturday.

McGregor scored in the 45th, 47th and 90th minutes to add to Janine Dennis’ 14th- minute strike.

Portmore captain Rochelle Bryan was red-carded in the 43rd minute and Latoya Barrett picked up her second yellow in time added.

Coach Charles Edwards, who moved a number of players around to new positions for the final, said the game plan worked perfectly, although he did not expect to win by four clear goals.

“When we play a final we tend to go full steam ahead and we caught them very early and they didn’t have a chance to settle afterwards, and that was the plan,” he said.

“But we made a lot of changes and the team played perfectly well, so I’m very happy for that,” he added.

Barbican pulled back their leading scorer Kessian Walker into defence and pushed playmaker McGregor to forward, and the unusual shuffle worked like a charm.

Barbican did all the early pressing and they were rewarded with a goal 14 minutes into the match when a mix-up between Portmore goalkeeper Peatria Campbell and her defenders left McGregor free and latter headed for Dennis to score in an unguarded net.

Portmore rallied and twice could have scored, but on both occasions the competition’s leading goal-scorer, Venecia Reid, had her efforts cleared off the line.

Barbican regained control and Portmore’s problems deepened when captain Bryan was ejected two minutes before the break.

The St Catherine-based side’s task was made much more difficult as on 45 minutes, Campbell could only parry Trudi-Ann Mill’s shot into the path of the onrushing McGregor who scored from six yards.

Two minutes after the interval, Barbican increased their lead when McGregor headed home a cross from Yanique Goldspring, to put the game out of Portmore’s reach.

Barbican had other chances to increase their lead as Yolanda Hamilton and Dennis rattled the crossbar afterwards.

But McGregor copped a perfect evening for herself and her team when she was brought down by Barrett, and curled the resulting free-kick home from the edge of the area.

Portmore coach Derrick Johnson said everything just went horribly wrong for his team on the evening.

“Certainly a disappointing result… because from they scored we dropped our heads and gave up the midfield, and once you give up the midfield against Barbican, you are going to lose,” he stated.