CATHERINE HALL, St James — Montego Bay United Head Coach Rodolfo Zapata and his counterpart at Portmore United Rodolph Austin were both satisfied with sharing the spoils after the 0-0 result in the top-of-the-table Jamaica Premier League football match at Montego Bay Sports Complex on Sunday.

The game did not live up to its pre-match hype between the teams with the best records. Most of the action was concentrated in the middle of the field, with the goalkeepers being mere spectators for long periods.

The draw left Montego Bay with 14 points from their seven games and Portmore United a point back, also from seven outings.

Zapata described the encounter as “very tactical” during a post-match analysis.

He added: “Portmore is a very disciplined, young team. We created about four or five clear chances to win the game [and] they didn’t, so I am happy with my players’ performance.”

It was back-to-back goalless draws for Montego Bay, but Zapata was quick to point out that it was also their fifth game without conceding a goal.

“If we don’t create chances, I’m going to be worried, but I’m not worried because we create chances and the goal is coming any time,” said the Montego Bay coach.

Austin, who took over coaching duties at Portmore United just before the start of the competition, was encouraged by what he saw on the day.

“We played against the top team in the league away, you know; I think my team played very [well]. We didn’t give a lot of chances today, so it was a very good team performance by the team.”

Portmore had won four-straight games going into Sunday’s encounter. He said they were careful not to give any opening to Montego Bay throughout the 90 minutes, even if it meant slowing down the contest at times.

“That was the plan for us,” he said in response to a direct question about the tactical ploy. “We are going up against a team that is in very good form, you can’t just come and be stupid. MoBay is a very good team, so you have to be smart, and that was what we did. We tried to take the crowd out of the game, because that is their 12th man, and we tried to contain them and be smart, so that’s why maybe the game was played like that,” Austin explained.

Both teams, however, combined for a few good scoring chances late in the game, with Montego Bay goalkeeper Aaron Enill and central defender Josiah Trimmington — both Trinidad and Tobago natives — combining for two good stops late in the game. At the other end of the field Brian Brown shaved the cross bar and then steered an effort just wide of Daniel Russell’s goal.

— Paul A Reid