CATHERINE HALL, St James – Montego Bay United (MBU) just fell short of advancing to the finals of the Caribbean Football Union Club Championships after they were beaten 1-0 by defending champions Central FC of Trinidad in a hot-tempered contest in the deciding Group Three game at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Sunday.

Darren Mitchell’s 87th-minute goal on what was the visitors’ lone clear chance of the game, gave them the win and six points in Group Three, as Montego Bay United finished with three and Scholars International had no points after losing both games.

FIFA referee Marcos Brea Despaigne had a busy night handing out 10 cards, nine yellow and one red, with seven cautions coming in the final 15 minutes of the first half.

The red card was shown to MBU’s central defender Winston Wilkinson, his second caution of the game, three minutes before Central FC managed to breach the Montego Bay United defence.

Both teams were forced to make crucial changes, taking off inspirational players, but it was the departure of MBU’s Owayne Gordon, a hat-trick scorer against Scholars International, in the 22nd minute that proved more crucial to the outcome of the game.

Gordon suffered a scratch to his eyeball and referee Despaigne initially refused to allow the MBU medical staff on the field to tend to him, indicating to the player to get up and play.

Central lost goalkeeper Jan Michael Williams, one of seven Trinidad and Tobago internationals in the squad, in the 34th minute to an injury, but his replacement Akel Clarke made two brilliant second-half saves to keep his team in the game.

Paul ‘Tegat’ Davis, the MBU coach, found it hard to mask his disappointment after the game.

“It wasn’t that tough of a game, but the ref played an integral part in the result and it makes you wonder.

“Two good teams came out and played some good football and the crowd cannot be disappointed, yes that we lost, but they saw good football,” he said.

Davis said the early loss of Gordon hurt his team.

“It affected us badly as he is the player carrying the team now, and with him leaving so early, it put us back, but the guys fought brilliantly.”

Despite losing Gordon early in the contest, the MBU coach believed the win was there for the taking. “We still got the chances which we should have put away,” he said.

Davis dismissed suggestions that not scoring more goals against Scholars, who they beat 4-0, might have come back to hurt them. “No, no, no, we could have won tonight, but we did not take the chances.”

Central coach Dale Saunders paid respect to MBU.

“We know tonight would have been very tough, credit to Montego Bay United, they are a good team, very good individuals, but in the end we prepared mentally and physically and we got the results at the end of the day,” he said.

Playing so soon after Friday’s 6-0 thrashing of Scholars, Saunders said that game took its toll on his players.

“Our guys were a little weary and we tried to prepare well and had them in the pool and in the end we came out on top… we know Montego Bay United had to come all out and our plan was to soak up the pressure, possess the football and get one goal, and so said so done,” he ended.

The home team, who had played on Wednesday, dominated the possession and chances for the first 60 minutes or so, and Allan Ottey, the only change from the first game, wasted the first scoring chance in the 13th minute.

Ottey sprinted from his own half and after getting into the Central 18-yard area opted to shoot into the side netting instead of passing to the wide open Gordon at the penalty spot.

In the second half, Clarke went to his knees to dig out a powerful header from Rodney for a corner, and then minutes later, tipped over another header from Cory Hylton for another corner.