MONTEGO Bay United (MBU) Head Coach Nedier Dos Santos isn’t blaming the state of emergency (SOE) in the second city as a factor in his team’s inconsistent start to the Wray & Nephew Premier League season.

In their last game on Sunday at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex the St James club suffered a 3-1 defeat. The game was initially set for WesPow Park but, due to the imposition of the SOE in Montego Bay, the game was moved to Kingston at Arnett’s home venue.

When asked by the Jamaica Observer if it has been affecting the team, Dos Santos said: “Not at all. We have some police blocks, sometimes the traffic is a little bit slow, but nothing interferes at all. I even believe the match can be played in MoBay, because we don’t see nothing much going on. This don’t affect anything, I guarantee.”

MBU have one win in their five games so far, and the Brazilian coach says not playing home games contributes to the team’s stuttering form.

“The inconsistency is not just something I’m saying — everybody can watch and see. We were very bad against Waterhouse, we did a very good match against Cavalier, the match against Vere we didn’t play bad but today [against Arnett] wasn’t good. We’ve played only one home match. Playing at home is always an advantage, and we’ve played four away. But anyhow, it’s everybody’s responsibility to work to improve and keep the team consistent,” said Dos Santos.

MBU will once again be on the road for Wednesday’s encounter against Humble Lions at the Effortville Community Centre.

Meanwhile, Arnett Gardens Head Coach Xavier Gilbert was satisfied with his team’s efforts, especially after their 3-1 loss to Tivoli Gardens last week. A double from Shai Smith and one from Kimani Arbouine secured their second win of the season.

“We were much better today. What happened last week was disappointing, and they disappointed the fans, so we wanted to come out and put on a good show. We started much better, got two early goals, pushed them on the back foot, and it paid dividends for us,” Gilbert said.

Arnett will look for back-to-back wins when they host Waterhouse on Thursday.