FC Motagua took a huge step in their bid to qualify for the semi-final round of the Scotiabank Concacaf League when they blanked Waterhouse FC 2-0 at the National Stadium in Kingston, Wednesday night.

Second-half goals from Marcelo Pereira and Kevin Lopez gave last year’s beaten finalists a decisive advantage ahead of the return leg in Honduras next Wednesday.

Motagua dominated the possession in the first half as they were given room to play by the Waterhouse team, which preferred to play on the counter-attack. There were few clear opportunities for the visitors despite the advantage in possession, and Andre Fletcher had a great opportunity to put Waterhouse ahead but was denied by Motagua goalkeeper Jonathan Rougier

A lung-busting run by Stephen Williams down the right flank was followed by a perfect cross to Fletcher who saw his goal-bound effort stopped by a strong right hand from Rougier. Kenroy Howell followed up on the rebound but Rougier recovered quickly to dive at the feet of the Waterhouse striker to make a second save.

Shortly after, Denil Maldonado created room for himself but shot straight at a grateful Akeem Chambers in the Waterhouse goal.

Kevin Lopez should have put his team ahead when the ball ricocheted kindly to him inside the box but he shot high, much to the relief of Chambers and the entire Waterhouse defence.

Waterhouse’s Tremaine Stewart tried to catch out Rougier at his near post but the alert goalkeeper turned the ball that was destined for the roof of the net, behind for a corner kick.

The last real chance of the half fell to Motagua when they caught Waterhouse on a counter-attack but Lopez went for goal from an acute angle, instead of trying to find Reinieri Mayorquin who was unmarked inside the six-yard box.

Motagua picked up where they left off in the second half, taking the game to a weary-looking Waterhouse team with slick passing and constant off-the-ball movement.

But Motagua could count themselves lucky when Fletcher missed the best opportunity created by Waterhouse during the game.

The hard-working Colorado Murray broke down the right flank and held the ball up long enough before delivering a slide rule pass for the onrushing Fletcher who could only manage to fire the ball against the crossbar.

Motagua then went ahead in the 66th minute when Marcelo Pereira bundled the ball home from two yards. He was the first to respond to the ball crashing off the crossbar from a free kick to edge his team into a 1-0 lead.

The visitors continued to look the more likely and doubled their lead through the unrelenting Lopez. The forward lashed home a beautiful left-footed strike from 23 yards, low to the left of Chambers whose despairing dive wasn’t even close to the ball.

Things got worse for Waterhouse when central defender Nicholy Finlayson was shown a straight red card for violent conduct in the 82nd minute, forcing the hosts to play out the rest of the game with 10 players.

Despite the deficit Marcel Gayle is hopeful that his team can still turn things around in Honduras next week.

“It could have been worse,” he surmised. “We saw where we went wrong but we will try to come back against Motagua. We know it’s not going to be easy but our guys are capable of pulling it back.”

Gayle shied away from making excuses about the time between the Red Stripe Premier League game on Sunday and the game Wednesday night.

“The recovery time wasn’t adequate but we make no excuses. We have good players in our camp and this is what we prepared for.”

Diego Martin Vasquez was pleased with the performance of his players on the night.

“Our players did very well today on the field and we are happy for the win. We studied the Waterhouse team and they did everything we expected on the field.”

Vasquez is not about to rest on his laurels and will be preparing intensely for the return leg at home.

“We are happy for the win but the tie isn’t over. We have to play 90 more minutes in San Pedro Sula to move on to the semi-finals,” he said.

Waterhouse, staring down the barrel, will leave the island on Monday for the return leg in Honduras.

— Dwayne Richards