High-riding MBU hit Highgate for 6
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Montego Bay United announced their intention to snatch a place in the Red Stripe Premier League’s (RSPL) second Endof-Round Final with a thumping 6-0 win over Highgate in their encounter at the Catherine Hall Sports Complex on Sunday.
The victory was propelled by braces from Fabian McCarthy (22nd and 35th minutes) and Alan Ottey (49th and 61st minutes). Dwayne Ambusley (73rd) and substitute Leon Irving (90th+) rounded off the scoring.
The win catapulted the Montego Bay team to second place in the second round on 17 points, just two adrift of leaders Portmore United, who went down 1-2 away to Harbour View, on 19. The win also extended their unbeaten run to 10 games, and pushes them to 27 points overall.
The Neider Dos Santos-prepared Montego Bay United team ran rings around their St Mary opponents, especially in the first half and threatened to take the lead on several occasions.
They eventually surged ahead with McCarthy’s well-placed free-kick from halfway Highgate’s half, 22 minutes into play. Thirteen minutes later, the diminutive centre half repeated from another free-kick from a similar distance to send his team into the dressing room at the break with a 2-0 advantage.
Upon resumption of play the speedy Ottey got into the act and extended his team’s lead with two strikes 12 minutes apart.
But the Montego Bay fans did not have enough and were strident in their demand for a “six-love” result and Ambusley and Irving obliged.
Winning coach Dos Santos, who said that “there is no easy match in NPL in Jamaica”, conceded that “we made it easy yesterday (Sunday)”.
He noted that the main objective of the team, which struggled in the first round, was to gain a berth in the second End-of-Round Final.
“The focus now is the midseason final, which will be a big achievement for the team,” coach Dos Santos told the Observer.
He further noted that they are going all out to win the two remaining games in the round against Reno and Arnett Gardens.
He was cautiously optimistic of avenging their first-round loss to Reno when they meet in Westmoreland tomorrow.
