There is nothing a coach enjoys more in football than watching his team produce an efficient performance worthy of admiration.

Portmore United’s Head Coach Shavar Thomas was on the receiving end of one such presentation on Sunday, which left him beaming with satisfaction.

It was all fruits ripe for Thomas’s team, as they delivered a stirring, all-round performance in a 5-1 beating of Montego Bay United, which was appreciated by the fair-sized crowd at panish Town Prison Oval.

The win saw them extending their unbeaten run across six games and more importantly, provisionally draw closer to champions and leaders Arnett Gardens in the standings, much to the delight of Thomas.

Striker Javon East (10th, 84th) and substitute Jermie Lynch (65th, 90th+2), along with interim Captain Ricardo Morris (80th) got the goals in the lopsided contest which took Portmore United up to 25 points.

They were still one point a-drift the “Junglists”, who were scheduled to be in action against Humble Lion last night. Lesly St Fleur (20th) got Montego Bay United’s consolation.

“I am very happy, most of all with the three points, because we have been having some problems in front of goal and we have been letting teams off the hook in a number of goalless encounters.

“We were getting the chances but the good thing about it is that we weren’t giving up any, so I am happy with the five goals today (Sunday),” Thomas told the Jamaica Observer in a post-match interview.

Sunday’s second-round fixture was a quick turnaround for both teams, after they played out a goalless scoreline in the latter stages of the first round at the same venue, and the platform was set for another evenly contested battle.

And they were evenly matched — at least for the first 45 minutes — they went to the break at one goal apiece.

But it was one-way traffic in the second half, with Portmore United asserting their authority and completely taking their opponents apart to register their second five-goal win of the season, having defeated Waterhouse FC 5-0 in an earlier fixture.

“This is something that we have been working on because even in the goalless encounter the last time, we closed them out, and we felt that we could exploit the weakness in their backline because that was evident.

“We were successful in doing that this time around; we were more clinical in front of goal and we are thankful for that because it is a result of the effort that these guys put in all week, so credit to the team,” Thomas assessed.

The former national defender and captain had special praises for Morris, who led the team in the absence of Ewan Grandison.

“Ricardo (Morris) had a good game, he had a hand in three of the five goals and also scored one. So we are pleased with his effort because we want our national players to lead from the front, and he did that for us today,” Thomas ended.