Arnett make strong start in defence of title
ARNETT Gardens kicked off the defence of their Red Stripe National Premier League (RSPL) title with a comfortable 3-0 win over debutants UWI FC at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex on Monday night.
An own goal by the UWI skipper Dravian Williams in the 41st minute of play set the champions on their way to open their campaign with a victory. Further goals in minute 45 +1 from Lennox Russell and a penalty from Andrew Phang three minutes after the resumption, settled the issue without much fuss.
It was the RSPL champions who showed early intent by sweeping forward in the first minute of play to force a corner. Soon afterwards, Jabeur Johnson forced the UWI goalkeeper Amal Knight into making a point-blank save to keep his team from falling behind after recovering to avert the danger.
UWI did settle after this and began to look the part of belonging in the top league, but on 25 minutes Knight was called upon once again to rescue the team by making another tremendous save from a point-blank powerhouse from Arnett’s Steve Clarke.
Two late second-half changes by UWI in Akeem Thenstead and Andre Bernal gave the team a lift, but it was too little too late.
Coach Jerome Waite saw the opening game as a “good exercise” for Arnett Gardens as they prepare for the long haul in defence of their title.
“It was a competitive game (as) the UWI came here with a purpose by not laying back and allowing Arnett Gardens to have their own way. We, however, played for about 65 minutes in which time we scored three goals and you noticed they dominated the rest of the play as they looked fitter than we did at this stage of the campaign. But it’s still pre-season time and Arnett Gardens still have a lot of work to do,” Waite stated.
UWI assistant coach Andrew Peart said that despite having the better possession, the UWI were still in the game. “In the final minutes of the half we made some simple mistakes and that helped to derail what lofty ideas we had in seeing off the first half without conceding a goal,” said Peart.
— Hurbun Williams
