SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Jamaica’s Arnett Gardens today turned in an impressive display to defeat America FC of Haiti 3-0 in their opening CFU Club Championship group four encounter at the Estadio Quisqueya in Boca Chica, Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

Goals by Michaelos Martin in the 48th, Vishinul Harris in the 70th, and Kemal Malcolm in the 86th minutes propelled Arnett Gardens to three valuable points in the four-team group.

Prior to the game, head coach Jerome Waite said he believed that America FC could be his main challenger for group honours and this game was key in a group in which only the top team will advance to the final round in April.

Martin fired home after Kemal Malcolm’s effort was brilliantly blocked by goalkeeper Elan James to break the deadlock just after half-time.

National Under-23 player Harris rammed home an angled scorcher from just inside the box before Malcolm did likewise from almost the identical spot.

The match went according to Arnett Gardens’ game plan in which they were cautious for the first 45 minute to see what America iwas made of before unleashing their skills in the second half, and that they did.

Their pace was too hot for the exhausted Haitians and once Arnett went ahead, the result was never in doubt.

Coach Waite was satisfied with the result but not so much with the team”s performance.

“Not so much impressed because this is a competition that a lot of these players are playing for thr first time. We started out a little tentative but as the game goes we came into our own,” Waite said.

“It’s not until the second half that the players started to understand what they were supposed to do. It was a good victory and one of the things we targeted was clean sheet,” he added.

Jamaica will again be in action on Friday when they take on SV Notch of Suriname.

Howard Walker