CATHERINE HALL, St James — Montego Bay United’s (MBU) Coach Rodolfo Zapata is taking his team’s third-straight win in the Jamaica Premier League — all without conceding a goal — in stride.

Shaniel Thomas scored a double and Owayne Gordon and Brian Brown got one goal each as the hosts ran out easy 4-0 winners over Molynes United at Montego Bay Sports Complex on Wednesday to assume the lead in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) points table.

MBU raced to 12 points from five games, two points more than defending champions Cavalier SC who have played four games. Portmore United and Waterhouse are both on nine points, followed by Mount Pleasant FA and Harbour View both on seven points.

MBU’s Trinidad and Tobago goalkeeper Aaron Enill came up big in the second half to preserve their shutoout, saving a penalty kick taken by Jason Wright. The goalkeeper was the one who had conceded the penalty.

Zapata was not overly excited by the result.

“Right now, we didn’t win anything,” he told the Jamaica Observer after the game. “We won just three points; I want to win every single game.”

But it was the first time since they returned to the JPL three seasons ago that the former champions were scoring four goals in a game — and the Argentine was pleased with what he saw.

“We are [heading] the right way; we are working hard,” he said, adding the result spoke for itself. “We played beautiful football, ball control, and that [is] what I expect from them, and more, going forward.”

With games away to Humble Lion and at home to Portmore United coming up, Zapata plans to use his deep roster.

“We have a big challenge on Sunday but I have 30 players, quality players; it’s a long season and everybody are going to have the opportunity,” he pointed out.

“I always say to the non-starters [that] they have to be ready because when the opportunity arises, if they don’t take it, somebody else is going to take it — and that’s the reason we keep the team sharp.”

Molynes United’s Coach Jermaine Thomas highlighted his team’s meek performance.

“We made some errors and the errors cost us,” he lamented. “I think the errors were too basic,” he said, pointing out that his players were outnumbered in defensive areas more than once.

He added: “Kudos to MoBay; I thought they did well in terms of converting their opportunities but we just never turned up in the defensive third. We got a penalty, we miss another easy chance when we got the penalty — I think at the time it would have been 3-1 — and who knows what could have happened had we scored there? The mistakes were too simple, [and when you’re playing] against a good MoBay United [team], you’re going to pay for them.”

After going close early in the game with Romario Smith hitting the base of the Molynes United post, Gordon gave MBU the lead in the 24th minute when he converted a penalty that was awarded after a defender handled the ball in his 18-yard box.

The lead was doubled two minutes later when Thomas forced his way past two defenders and beat goalkeeper Carlos Robinson.

Despite making a triple change at the start of the second half, Molynes United failed to keep out the MBU players as Thomas eventually completed his brace in the 60th minute, effectively putting the game out of reach of the St Andrew-based team.

Molynes United were handed a lifeline when they were awarded a penalty after Enill rushed off his line and fouled Wright. However, the striker’s shot was saved by the goalkeeper.

To rub salt in their wounds, MBU added a fourth in the 75th minute when Brown, who replaced Thomas in the second half, beat Robinson with a fierce shot from close range.

— Paul A Reid