TUCKER, St James — Defending champions Montego Bay United (MBU) surged to the top of the points table in the Red Stripe Premier League after beating Arnett Gardens 2-0 on Thursday in their twice-postponed, first-round game at WesPow Park in Tucker, St James.

The original game was set for October 2 but was postponed due to the passage of Hurricane Matthew. The rescheduled game was called off due to a waterlogged field at WesPow Park some time later.

Goals from Jermaine Woozencroft in the first half and Dino Williams in the second half, scoring in his third-straight game, gave MBU their second 2-0 win over Arnett Gardens as the home team had beaten the South St Andrew-based team by the same margin four days prior in a second-round game on Sunday and improved to 25 points, two more than UWI FC.

It was Williams’ sixth goal and pulls him level with UWI FC’s Rochane Smith and one behind leader, Shamar Nicholson of Boys’ Town.

It was the fourth-straight win for the champions, who will have little time to recover before taking on an improving Harbour View in Kingston on Sunday.

Thursday’s game was played mostly in a steady drizzle that made the surface slick and while MBU made one change to the starting team from Sunday, bringing in wingback Zvezdan Dordilovic for centre half John Barrett, Arnett Gardens made four changes.

The result was the same, however as, apart from the first 10 minutes when Arnett Gardens created their only real scoring chance in the game, MBU were in control and could have won by a much wider margin as Arnett struggled to keep up with the pace of the home team.

Two trips to Montego Bay in five days looked to have taken its toll on Arnett Gardens, as the longer the game went on the more space MBU had to work with. Even a change in formation pushing Oneil Thompson from the defence to the midfield failed to slow down the MBU team.

A combination between Allan Ottey and Williams almost produced the first chance for MBU in the 23rd minute when a pass from just midway the Arnett Gardens half was overhit for Williams, as Damian Hyatt was quickly out of his goal area to guide it behind for a goal kick.

MBU finally broke through just after the half-hour mark when the Arnett Gardens defence managed to block two shots from close range, but the second rebound flew straight in the path of Woozencroft, who blasted it into the goal from just inside the 18-yard box.

The champions should have doubled the lead in the 48th minute after a mistake between Thompson and Hyatt; the defender had the ball close to the touch-line on the left side of his goal and lazily passed the ball to Hyatt, but Ottey got to the ball first, just inside the six-yard box, forcing the goalkeeper to throw himself at his feet to block the shot.

Another defensive mistake led to the second goal after an hour when Jamar Martin gave up on a ball at the corner flag. Woozencroft then passed to Keniel Kirlew, who crossed inside to the waiting Williams to power home from close range between two defenders.

Montego Bay had another chance in the 80th minute when Williams beat his markers to a high cross, but Hyatt was off his line in a flash to block the header.

In time added on, Ramone Sibley — who replaced Dordilovic — should have added another when he beat two defenders but with just Hyatt to get by, shot wide.

Teams: Montego Bay United — Jacomeno Barrett, Ladale Richie, Jason Watson, Zvezdan Dordilovic (Ramone Sibley 83rd), Keniel Kirlew, Kemar Drake, Kevon Lambert, Jermaine Woozencroft (Fabion McCarthy 73rd), Donovan Carey (Cory Hylton 56th), Allan Ottey, Dino Williams

Subs not used: David Swaby, Nicholas Stewart, Derron McLeod, Otis Friend

Booked: None

Arnett Gardens — Damion Hyatt, Oneil Thompson, Jabeur Johnson, Jason Moore (Marvin Morgan 56th), Michaelos Martin, Shawn McKoy, Fabian Reid, Damari Deacon (Leon Strickland 56th), Neicko Williams (Kemal Malcolm 65th), Jamar Martin, Dicoy Williams

Subs not used: Ranike Anderson, Lennox Russell, Kimani Arbourne, Newton Sterling

Booked: Deacon (54th)

Referee: Dwight Royal

Assistant Referees: Melvin Reid, Shawn Wright

Fourth Official: Veralton Nembhard

Match Commissary: Devon Maxwell