TUCKER, St James — Waterhouse FC made a winning start to the second round of the Jamaica Premier League, powered by Digicel, beating last-placed Montego Bay United 3-0 at Wespow Park as top-tier club football returned to the western city after three years.

Ricardo Thomas; Cardel Benbow, from the penalty spot; and Andre Leslie who came off the bench, got the goals for Waterhouse FC, who had taken the first-round game 2-1 in Kingston.

The win saw Waterhouse move to 26 points, while the losers stay rooted to the foot of the tables on five points after 12 games played.

At Drax Hall, Mount Pleasant Football Academy broke a five-game winless spell with a 2-1 win over Humble Lion. They improve to 22 points while staying in fourth place.

At Wespow Park, Waterhouse’s patience paid off handsomely as they got the better of the inexperienced Montego Bay United team in the second half in front of a good home turnout.

“We are satisfied with the result, it was a gutsy performance playing away,” Damion Gordon, who was calling the shots for Waterhouse from the sidelines, told the Jamaica Observer.

“I think we delivered in all areas of the game, tactically and we were very good technically today, in terms of how we set up, we prevented them from playing out of the back; so, yes we were satisfied,” he said.

He said Montego Bay United, playing before home fans for the first time in years, might have been extra motivated to keep the scores level at half-time.

“The first half we kept them in the game and they were playing well because they were playing at home for the first time in a while but I think our quality showed in the second half,” Gordon said.

Leacroft Lettman, the Montego Bay United coach, agreed with Gordon.

“We lost concentration after the break, lapses in concentration, giving up set plays. We tried to adjust but the two set plays were too much. We need to concentrate more and be quick on the restart,” he said.

“There were some positives. Despite being down, the players were still going forward and creating chances. They never stopped playing and that is a good thing to build on,” Lettman added.

Waterhouse FC had a few scoring chances in the first half as Montego Bay United’s goalkeeper Davonnie Burton had to dig out a low free kick from Benbow in the 16th minute. Late in the half Denardo Thomas directed a half volley just over the cross bar.

The home team’s best scoring chance came midway the half when Leonardo Fogarty’s shot from the right wing sailed across the Waterhouse area and just missed the far post.

Waterhouse finally broke through the Montego Bay United resistance in the 50th minute when Benbow found Thomas on the right with a free kick just on the edge of the box. Thomas rifled the ball back past Burton into the far corner of the goal.

Waterhouse doubled the lead in the 65th minute when Benbow converted a penalty kick after Jahvon James was brought down in the area.

Leslie, who had replaced James in the 70th minute, got the third goal, firing a missile past Burton after he was allowed time on the ball by the defenders.

Teams: Montego Bay United — Davonnie Burton, Renaldo Wellington, Shaquille West (Shandee Brooks-90), Renardo Wellington (Giovannie Reid-64th), Clifton Suban, Fabian Forbes (Rasheed Brown-46th), Christopher Gibbs (Romaine Thompson-75th), Nevaun Turner, Ewan Barton, Tavin Shaw, Leonardo Fogarty (Courtney Allen-65th)

Subs not used: Peter Sinclair, Ricardo James

Booked: Barton-65th, Suban -90

Waterhouse — Kemar Foster, Ramone Howell (Rohan Beadle-71st), Devroy Grey (Stephen Williams-85th), Keithy Simpson, Denardo Thomas (Shaquille Bradford-88), Cardel Benbow, Elvis Wilson, Jahvon James (Andre Leslie-70th), Kymani Campbell, Ricardo Thomas, Malik Cocking

Subs not used: Zemioy Nash, Osani Ricketts, Duvaughn Dunkley, Loloxley Reid, David Edwards

Booked: None

Referee: Stephen Dewar

Assistants: Damion Williams, Rolanzo Bennett

Fourth Official: Damion Coombs

Match Commissary: Gavin McNeil

Sunday’s results

Montego Bay 0, Waterhouse 3

Mt Pleasant 2, Humble Lions 1

Harbour View 4, Molynes 1

Cavalier 1, Arnett Gardens 0