DRAX HALL, St Ann — Donovan Duckie was happy with his team’s performance in Sunday’s opening day of the Jamaica Premier League as Montego Bay United rallied to earn a point in their 1-1 draw with Portmore United at Drax Hall, St Ann.

Despite their plans to focus on youth development at the St James club it was one of the oldest players who made the difference as former Reggae Boyz player Allan Ottey came off the bench to get the equaliser in the 87th minute.

Portmore had taken the lead late in the first half when Jhanni Flemmings’ free kick beat goalkeeper Davonnie Burton in the 35th minute, but they were made to play catch-up in the second half.

Duckie, who is in his second stint with the team, praised his players for their attitude throughout the contest played in hot conditions.

“We chased the game. We chased the game and never let up. At no point we looked like we quit,” he declared to the Jamaica Observer.

“This is what championships are about. We had a bad start in the first half but we finished the game strong, and this augurs well for our programme. You saw what they did last year and you saw what we did today — and this will tell you the difference between then and now,” the journeyman tactician added

Montego Bay, who returned to the competition last season after a two-year absence, lost their first two games last season, and Duckie believes Sunday’s game held possibilities of getting more goals.

“I thought, even in the early stages of the game, I would suggest that we had a penalty call but you have to respect the decision of the referees…but, we were not broken. We stood up and fought hard,” he pointed out.

Duckie admitted that the field, which was bigger than the one they had prepared on, gave them some problems.

“We struggled with the size of the field but I thought we did well to chase the game. We analysed what Portmore were doing in the first half when we conceded a soft goal but I thought the changes impacted the game — and we took control and started to break their lines after not being penetrative in the first half,” he reasoned.

Phillip Williams, who took charge of the Portmore United team for this season, rued not leaving with maximum points.

“Based on how I saw the game I would consider it [as] two points lost, but it’s [still] a positive start. It’s a draw, and that is a positive result and we are happy for that,” he reasoned.

Williams disagreed with the position that they lost control of the game late on.

“The game was being played the way we wanted it, it’s just a matter of losing concentration on that goal with the pass through the middle. But over 90 minutes there will be periods when we [lose] concentration, and today we paid for losing concentration,” Williams admitted.

It was Montego Bay that made the first costly error when Nevaun Turner committed a foul on the edge of his 18-yard box — and Flemmings made them pay with a well-taken free kick into the far left hand corner of the goal.

Duckie’s first strategic response was a triple change five minutes into the second half which allowed Montego Bay to wrest control away from Portmore. And the icing on the cake came when Ottey, who came on in the 67th minute, finished off a decisive move just before full time.

Courtney Allen and Leonardo Fogarthy led a quick counter-attack, catching Portmore by surprise, and forced goalkeeper Ricardo Watson out of his six-yard area as he tried to cut off the angle; but Allen found the fleet-footed Ottey to his right and the veteran completed the job, firing into the far corner.

Teams:

Montego Bay United – Davonnie Burton, Nevaun Turner, Renaldo Wellington (Donovan Brown-50th), Bryan Mankumbani (Allan Ottey-67th), Tavin Shaw, Kevin Graham, Rodave Murray Johann Weatherly-50th), Devarow McKenzie (Renardo Wellington-61st), Ewan Barton (Leonardo Fogarthy-50th), Courtney Allen, Shaquille West

Subs not used: Vialley Matolola, Shandee Brooks, Fabian Forbes

Booked: Turner-34th, Shaw-48th, Allen-62nd

Portmore United – Ricardo Watson, Stephen Young, Alvinus Myers, Gawain Austin, Andre Smith, Okello Howard, Siegle Knight, Rohan Beadle (Sean Kenyon-76th), Jhanni Flemmings (Markland Burton-76th), Rushane Thompson, Jevick McFarlane (Rudolph Austin-90th)

Subs not used: Benjamin Williams, Noel Walker, Joel Jones, Xavier Bruce, Marvin Williams,

Booked: Burton-79th

Referee: Alexi Perry

Assistants: Ojay Duhaney, Ricardo McKenzie

Fourth official: Romaine McKnight

Match commissary: Gavin McNeil