MONTEGO BAY, St James — Montego Bay United Under-21 and Reggae Youths have taken slim leads after the first leg of the St James Football Association Sandals/ATL/Honda Senior League semi-finals at Jarrett Park on Tuesday.

Kevaugn Atkinson scored twice as Montego Bay United Under-21 came from two goals down to beat former champions Violet Kickers 3-2, thanks to two penalty kicks in a contentious game that saw each team finish the game with 10 players.

Montego Bay United Under-21’s Ackeem McCarthy and Violet Kickers’ Marlon Walker were both sent off in the first half.

The game was also stopped close to the end of the first half after spectators behind the Violet Kickers goal threw rocks at the goalkeeper, forcing referee Recordo Sailsman to halt play and allow police to clear the area.

Reggae Youths beat Little Miami 1-0 in their game that was moved at the last minute from the UDC field because of flooding from afternoon rains.

The return-leg games will be played at Jarrett Park tomorrow.

In their previous meeting in the third round, Montego Bay United Under-21 had come back from two goals down to earn a point against Violet Kickers and found themselves down 0-2 in the first half on Tuesday.

This time, however, they scored three unanswered goals to take the lead.

The turning point came late in the first half when Sailsman sent off the Violet Kickers central defender Marlon Walker who had inadvertently handled the ball while falling to the ground.

The central defender was covering for goalkeeper Andre Gough who had come off his line and was beaten. In the process of backing up his goalkeeper, the defender slipped and the ball hit his thigh then flew straight up in the air and hit him on the forearm.

Earlier, the veteran Phillip Wong scored in the 13th minute and Kemar Irving added a second in the 37th to give Violet Kickers

the lead.

Kyle Anderson pulled one back for Montego Bay United Under-21 in the 45th minute after Walker had handled the ball to cut the deficit to one goal at half-time.

Another handled ball in the Violet Kickers goal area in the 68th minute led to another penalty that was converted by Atkinson to draw Montego Bay United Under-21 level.

Atkinson then gave Montego Bay United the lead two minutes later when he scored from a spectacular solo effort, swivelling between two defenders to power the ball home from an acute angle, beating the goalkeeper into the roof of the net.

In the second game, Javian Bailey scored in the 62nd minute for Reggae Youths to beat two-time finalists Little Miami 1-0 to get a leg up in the two-way tie.