MONTEGO BAY, St James- Montego Bay United (MBU) staged a dramatic late second half rally to come from two goals down and earn a 2-2 raw against Waterhouse FC in their Wray and Nephew Jamaica Premier League second round game played at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Monday.

Two goals in an eight minute span in the second half, from Lucas Lima Correa in the 75th minute and Owayne Gordon in the 83rd minute saw MBU roar back into the game after goals from Javane Bryan in the 32nd minute and Revaldo Mitchell in the 59th minute had given Waterhouse what looked a comfortable lead.

The game was played in miserable conditions, with rain shifting from a drizzle to a downpour. MBU left out the pair of Jourdaine Fletcher and Courtney who were both late for the pre-game meeting, it was heard.

Neider dos Santos, the MBU coach who had described their first round loss to Waterhouse as “a disaster,” said Monday’s game was shaping up to be the same, “the first half was a disaster also, I did not like the first half.”

He could have said the first 70 minutes as the home team was being bullied in front of their own fans until he made some tweaks.

“I tried to make some changes, even in the system and the second half we changed a lot, we improved, I think we had a better second half than them and we could have won the match because we had a lot of chances in the last 20 minutes of the game,” dos Santos said.

He said he made adjustments at the interval.

“I changed some players and advanced (Correa) who was playing central defender to play number six, and he gave more quality and more, more strength to the midfield,” dos Santos said.
One of the second half substitutes was midfielder Shavon McDonald who managed just 10 minutes before he reinjured his knee and was replaced by Johann Weatherly.

McDonald was coming back from an injury against Mt Pleasant FA on November 27 last year and had missed eight games.

Damion Gordon, the Waterhouse assistant coach, made no excuses for his team’s second half let down.

“I think we never managed the game well, from the first half Montego Bay was playing for set plays and it worked for them in the end because of the size of their players,” he told the Jamaica Observer, “but I think in terms of managing a game, we didn’t do it well and we didn’t organise enough.”

However, his overall assessment was that it was a “good game”.

“It was a good game for us, the first half was very good, but I mean, in terms of the second I didn’t think we manage the game in the second half.”

With MBU failing to compete in the midfield, Waterhouse controlled the game and went ahead in the 32nd minute when Bryan, who was left alone on the right side of the MBU penalty area, headed a cross into the far corner.

Despite clawing their way back into the game in the second half, a mistake from the MBU goalkeeper William Ferreira, dropping a high cross, gifted Mitchell the goal.

MBU halved the deficit in the 75th minute when Correa pounced on a rebound and powered it back past goalkeeper Kemar Foster.

Grasping the momentum, MBU went in search of the equaliser and Gordon, who was a January signing, provided it when he got past two defenders on the left side of the area and smashed the ball past Foster in the 83rd minute.

MBU could have completed the comeback but Gordon missed the far right post in time added.