CATHERINE HALL, St James — Montego Bay United ended their inaugural campaign in the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League on a sour note, losing 1-2 to Panamanian team CD Arabe Unido, but Coach Tim Hankinson is upbeat about the team’s potential.

Playing without five regular starters-all out due to injuries and giving goalkeeper Romaine Bowers his first start for the club, Hankinson said in his post-game interview that the future for the club is bright.

Both Arabe Unido’s goals came from substitutes — Armando Polo gave Arabe Unido the lead in the 75th minute, a minute after he replaced Enrico Small; and Abdiel Arroyo, who was the first change in the 62nd minute, made it 2-0 in the 84th minute before Allan Ottey drew a goal back in the 89th minute for the home team.

Montego Bay United finished with one point in their first appearance in the competition, behind winners and quarter-finalists DC United on 10 points, and Arabe Unido on six points.

Tim Hankinson, the MBU coach, said the game was balanced for the first 70 minutes, but admitted that “the level of intensity of the opponents tonight in the final 20 minutes was maybe a little bit sharper than us, but we were missing five normal starters, most of them attacking players who have injuries”.

The Arabe Unido Coach Juan Guzman said they had watched the tapes of the MBU 3-3 draw against DC United a month ago, and took some pointers. He said they changed plans about three times during the game and the offensive substitutions were effective.

Polo made an immediate impact a minute after he came on when he latched on to a botched clearance and fired it back past debutant goalkeeper Romaine Bowers.

Nine minutes later Arroyo ran past two defenders on the right flank and powered the ball into the far corner.

With a minute to go in regulation, Ottey benefited from a superb pass from central defender Kemar Drake, ran away from one defender, rounded goalkeeper Miguel Lloyd, and slotted into an empty goal.