While a lot of fans of the Red Stripe Premier League see Waterhouse’s failure to get a win at home against the UWI FC on Monday night as an opportunity missed, their head coach Marcel “Fuzzy” Gayle is not the least bit perturbed.

A win for Waterhouse on Monday would have seen them cut the gap between themselves and league leaders Portmore United to two points instead of the gaping four with three sets of matches left in the regular season.

Waterhouse were unable to breakdown a stubborn UWI defence, though they came close on a couple of occasions that last of which was a Tremaine Stewart free kick in the dying embers of the game. Stewart hit the frame of the goal with his 20-yard effort that certainly would have won the game for the hosts had it gone in.

UWI set about stifling the Waterhouse attack from minute one and Gayle pointed to that fact as a reason why they were unable to get the better of the team he coached up to last season.

“I think the pressing game from the UWI pushed us back a little bit, but you never have two same games,” he said.

Gayle, however, lauded his team for a valiant effort and a tactically sound performance despite the dropped points.

“Credit to my guys, I thought they played well despite a couple chances or half chances that we should have put away, but such is the game… it was a good overall performance, tactically it was a good game,” he noted.

When quizzed about failing to seriously cut into Portmore’s lead, Gayle pointed to an area of more significance to him at this point in the season.

“As I said, we are happy to finish all games healthy, hopefully we don’t have anybody injured.

“It is more important to me to me right now to keep everybody healthy for the next round (than to get past Portmore United),” he stressed.

Waterhouse will travel to the Spanish Town Prison Oval today for a game that could decide where the $1 million goes for finishing top of the tables at the end of the regular season.

A win for Portmore would see them extend the gap to seven points and seal the title with two games to go, but a win for Waterhouse would extend the title race for at least another match day.

“It will be a very keen encounter,” the Waterhouse boss promised.

“We will be on the road, but we are going over there for a positive result and we just have to put our best foot forward.”

Fans can expect fireworks in a game that is sure to be a statement game ahead of the Red Stripe Premier League play-offs.

— Dwayne Richards