DAMION Gordon, the Waterhouse FC assistant coach, says he expects his team to get sharper as they get more matches under their belt in this season’s Red Stripe Premier League.

Waterhouse opened their campaign with an unconvincing 1-0 victory over hosts Dunbeholden FC at Royal Lakes Sports Complex on Sunday, a fourth-minute glancing header from Stephen Williams proving decisive in a scrappy football match.

Waterhouse, whose scheduled first game of the season last week against Vere United was postponed, have three points.

Dunbeholden, in only their second season of top-flight football, have no point after losing their opening game 1-3 to Cavalier FC the previous week.

“It’s good to get off the mark. As you know, Dunbeholden is a good opponent for us, [so] the three points were very vital today,” Gordon told reporters during a post-match interview.

“We got an early lead. They had some moments in the game and we also had some moments in the game, but that’s football. I think we defended well without the ball and that’s a plus for us.”

He noted that his team came up short after taking charge in the opening part of the first half, bossing possession of the ball and pinning back Dunbeholden inside their own half.

“I think we lacked the killer instinct up front [but] we will work on that — it will come. We have quality players, so we will solve that situation. It’s the first game of the season, [and] we are not going to expect them to be 100 per cent sharp. But they did commit to the task and we did put in a good shift,” the Waterhouse assistant coach explained.

Dunbeholden Assistant Coach Andrew Fraser rued that his team conceded meekly from a set-piece situation, and then was unable to get on the scoresheet when they grew into the game after a nervy start.

“It was unfortunate we never capitalised on the chances we got but that is how football is. If you get an opportunity you got to put it in.

“It was a good game but a silly mistake [made] us go 0-1 down — it was poor marking and it cost us. It’s something we have to work on because we were flat in the defensive line. We’ll go back to the drawing board, get the work done and try to fix that,” Fraser told the Jamaica Observer following the loss.

—Sanjay Myers