Fabian Reid bolstered his leading goalscoring trek with his first hat-trick of goals for the season that inched Arnett Gardens one place up to second on 21 points in the Red Stripe Premier League standings after defeating Montego Bay United 3-0 at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex in a late kick-off on Sunday.

Champions Portmore United are league leaders on 24 points. Reid harvested his goals in minutes 44, 82, and 88.

“This was a thoroughly enjoyable victory after seeing how close we came to conceding goals in the opening minutes. And after narrowly escaping from that torrid opening moment from Montego Bay we settled down for a good fight. The Montego Bay team started off quicker than the Arnett Gardens team and in the opening five minutes they created a few good chances, one of which was cleared off the line by Ramone McGregor and goalkeeper Hyatt (Damion) came out big at one point to keep us in the game. Judging from the foregoing the Arnett Gardens players must begin to understand how important it is to be ready as the referee starts the game. But despite that, we came into our own and began to roll the ball around. It was also a competitive period between both teams until Fabian Reid broke the deadlock to give Arnett a 1-0 lead before the half-time break. During this break period we spoke to the players about some of the things that are necessary to do in an attempt to get the better of Montego Bay as travelling from so far, lactic acid will begin to take its toll. Added to this, they ended up losing a player and we took advantage of that situation with Reid scoring another two goals in the interim,” explained winning Head Coach Jerome Waite.

“However, despite scoring three goals we continue to miss chances and that is an area we still have to do a lot of work on,” he added.

Montego Bay United have not been enjoying the best of runs on the road for the season althoughthey have been playing well enough to be competitive. They therefore the need to salvage something out of this game. As a result they went on the hunt and attacked their hosts at the jugular from the opening whistle of referee O’Keito Nicholson. And for the opening five minutes their prospects looked wholesome as they created no less than three solid-looking chances to take the lead, the most dangerous of which was cleared off the line by defender Ramone McGregor in about the fourth minute of play.

Notwithstanding, this was as far the threat of scoring by the visitors went as Arnett Gardens successfully weathered the early storm and settled in to some recovery work. Both teams however continued to share the exchanges in the competitive period before the break. In the 38th minute the first real chance of breaking the deadlock fell to Arnett Gardens as they looked enticingly hopeful as the hard-working skipper Marvin Morgan outran the Montego Bay defence to be one-on-one with goalkeeper Aian Miller. He, however, dashed all hopes by spooning the shot to goal tamely over the crossbar.

This however, started something of a purple patch for Arnett Gardens as they dominated the closing minutes to the half with a goal. This was unlike Montego Bay who failed to do likewise in their chance filled opening period of the half. Jourdain Fletcher might have failed to put Montego Bay ahead but Reid capped the half’s final few moments of play for Arnett with a goal on a pass from Morgan.

Montego Bay United’s substitute Odane Nish was ejected in the 71st minute and this seemed to knock the wind out of the sail of the visitors and they capitulated. In surrendering, Arnett Gardens profited as Morgan assisted on Reid’s second. He was also involved in his third strike.

“I thought we played a very good first half although falling behind in the final few moments of the half by giving up a soft goal. The second half we came out being 1-0 down but despite the deficit we began to get back into the match but I thought the Red Card set us back a whole lot. Even at this stage all is not lost. We are a fighting so we just have to go back and continue the process of working hard than we may be doing at present. Talent is not our problem we just have to settle down and go back and work much harder in order to get the results we are after,” Montego Bay United Head Coach Vassell Reynolds said.

Teams: Arnett Gardens FC — Damion Hyatt, Ramone McGregor, Jamar Martin, Ranike Anderson, Tamar Edwards, Zhelano Barnes, Rickardo Oldham (Kemar Phillpotts 58th), Lamar Nelson (Chevon Bryan 73rd), Jovani Simms (Kemal Malcolm 62nd), Fabian Reid, Marvin Morgan

Subs not used: Mikhail Harrison, Henrico Ricketts, Kimani Arbouine

Booked: McGregor (74th)

Montego Bay United FC — Aian Miller, Orlando McBayne, Jermaine Woozencraft, John Barrett, Renaldo Wellington, Nicholas Amposah, Ricardo Wilson, (Vahsean McBean 84th), Nazime Matalie-Grant, Wade Daley (Odane Nish 59th), Allan Ottey (Dwayne Ambusley 69th), Jourdain Fletcher

Subs not used: Zavhia Hutchinson, Trevaughn Walker, Howard Dent, Nevaun Turner

Booked: Woozencraft (21st), Wellington (55th), Barrett (82nd), Nish (ejected 71st)

Referee: O’Keito Nicholson

Assistant Referees: Rolanzo Bennett, Joshua Jackson

Fourth Official: Doyen Tummings

Match Commissioner: Beverley Melbourne