CATHERINE HALL, St James — Montego Bay United have completed the first hurdle to what they hope will be the greatest moment in the club’s short history after an 8-2 aggregate demolition of nemesis Waterhouse FC in the semi-finals of the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL).

The RSPL champions followed up Monday’s 3-1 win over Waterhouse FC at Drewsland with a master-class 5-1 in front of their home crowd at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Sunday.

Dino Williams, who seems to live for the big occasions, scored twice to lead Montego Bay United. He also set up two more goals for Allan Ottey and Lesly St Fleur, while Owayne Gordon got the other.

Jermaine Anderson scored for Waterhouse.

With qualification for the final out of the way, members of the team started leaving for Trinidad yesterday where they will seek their first Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championships title and a place in next season’s CONCACAF Club Championships.

Montego Bay United will have two bites of the cherry, so to speak, with three of the four teams in this weekend’s play-off advancing.

They meet Trinidad’s Direct TV W Connection FC in the semi-finals at the Ato Boldon stadium in Couva on Friday evening after Don Bosco FC take on Central FC in the other semi-final.

The winners of the semi-finals will automatically qualify for the CONCACAF competition and will meet for the CFU Caribbean Club title on Sunday 24, while the losers will also meet in the opening game with the winner of the consolation game also qualifying.

Dr Dean Weatherly, who took over the team just over a month ago, said he was not surprised by the outcome as his team was focused and was like a family.

“From management down this team is like a family unit, everyone is on the same page and so it’s not hard to motivate the players, they know what the goal is and we are on a mission,” he said.

The team’s never-say-die attitude was also a factor and they were able to soak up early pressure from Waterhouse, who had to chase the game after coming in with a two-goal deficit.

Waterhouse made three changes to the team that started on Monday, while Montego Bay United made two — one forced as Keniel Kirlew was badly injured in the first game, and is likely to miss the trip to the southern Caribbean. He needed 14 stitches to close a gash on his lower left leg suffered in a clash with Evan Taylor.

Waterhouse coach Anthony Patrick, who declined to speak about his future with the club, had little explanation for his team’s performance.

“We were behind the eight ball from Monday night… we gave up some early goals tonight (Sunday) that did not help,” he said.

Patrick said the plan coming in was to be patient and build up attacks, but claimed “crucial mistakes” led to their downfall.

After surviving the expected early onslaught from Waterhouse, MBU scored three goals late in the first half to effectively kill off the game as a contest.

Williams was in the centre of the action, setting up Ottey in the 28th minute when he sent him through to gallop almost the entire length of the Waterhouse half before powering the ball past the hapless Richard McCallum, then scoring a header four minutes later from a corner taken by St Fleur.

The Williams/St Fleur combination worked well for the third goal.

In the 44th minute when Williams was brought down inside the box by defender Rohan Amos, St Fleur stepped up to convert the penalty kick. He had to take the kick twice after referee Kevin Morrison ruled there was an infringement the first time, but he made no mistake on the second attempt.

Anderson, who was chasing the scoring title, pulled one back for Waterhouse when he beat goalkeeper Jacomeno Barrett at his near left-hand post in the 45th minute.

Waterhouse gave back the goal early in the second half when a comical mix-up between McCallum and a defender saw goal poacher Williams sweep the ball into the goal from about two yards out for a 4-1 lead.

Gordon, who was left back in Montego Bay for the first game, popped up for the fifth, powering his way through the now deflated Waterhouse defence before scoring from close range.