Red Stripe Premier League leaders Waterhouse Football Club lost their first game for 2020 when they went down 3-4 to Tivoli Gardens on Sunday.

Their Head Coach Marcel Gayle admitted that going down 0-3 very early in the first half was what cost them the game.

“The first 11 minutes going 3-0 down [meant] it was always going to be a difficult task but we showed character and we showed tenacity.

“This is the game and we have to play the game. If you don’t start the game well, you can end up like what happened to us,” he reasoned.

However, he was not about to dwell on the bad result even as he praised his opponents for the win they achieved.

“Lesson learnt, we have to move on to the next match and come again; kudos to Tivoli.”

His team made every effort to come back from the huge deficit and Gayle has vowed to respond in the coming games.

“We have the quality and at any moment we could get a goal, but unfortunately today [Sunday] it wasn’t our day, we just have to go back to the drawing board and come again.”

He chalked up the result to just being one of those days.

“You are going to have one of those days in the premier league where you just come up short on the day and today [Sunday] is one of those days, but as I said, lesson learnt.

“Kudos to my team; we could have conceded a lot more but we stopped the gap, we scored some goals in the run of play, so we are grateful.”

With Tivoli Gardens throwing up defensive blocks late in the contest it became increasingly difficult for Waterhouse to find spaces in the final third.

“We tried hard but [it was] stout defending by Tivoli. At one point they had nine men behind the ball, so we tried to pull them apart and we did, but we just unfortunately couldn’t deliver that final blow.”

There were a number of yellow cards shown during the game but this came as no surprise for the Waterhouse native.

“It was a cross-town derby, the physicality of the game, we planned for that. We expected Tivoli to come at us. They needed all three points, we needed points as well, but it’s just tough luck today on our part,” he concluded.

The league leaders will look to return to winning ways when they take on the relegation-threatened The University of the West Indies Football Club on Sunday.

— Dwayne Richards