CATHERINE HALL, Jamaica — Head Coach Xavier Gilbert was pleased after Montego Bay United rebounded from their recent loss to blank promoted Spanish Town Police 4-0 in the Jamaica Premier League match at Montego Bay Sports Complex on Sunday.

Based on chances created and dominant ball possession, the margin of victory could have been doubled against visitors Spanish Town Police who ended the clash with 10 players on the field.

Montego Bay’s Josiah Trimmingham, Timar Lewis and Deonjay Brown got on the scoresheet, each scoring their first goal of the season. Jahmari Clarke scored his third of the campaign in his first game back from an injury.

The victory returned Montego Bay to the top of the league table, with 13 points from six matches.

Gilbert, in his first season in charge of the revamped team, said he would have been more concerned if the team was strugling to create scoring chances.

“We’ve just got to continue to work, and our conversion rate has to be better, I must agree, but we’re gonna continue to work until we get it right,” he said in reference to the number of missed opportunities.

“It is still early days [in the season], so we’re not striking all the notes as yet, but I’m happy for scoring some goals tonight and having a clean sheet,” he added, noting he was happy with “most parts of the display”.

Spanish Town — after getting their first goal of the season in a loss to Tivoli Gardens and subsequently their first point last week in a 0-0 result against Chapelton Maroons — dared to dream big entering the contest with Montego Bay.

William Spencer, the Spanish Town coach, told the Jamaica Observer his inexperienced team had been, “expecting a better result”, on Sunday.

“[We were] caught in transition several times from the first half. We tried to fix it but, obviously, we didn’t deal with it properly and hence we lost the game 0-4,” Spencer added.

Montego Bay started the match well, pinning back Spanish Town Police in their defensive third. The hosts went ahead 2-0 inside the first half an hour but wasted a number of other chances to score.

Trimmingham opened the scoring when he headed home a corner in the ninth minute, and Lewis doubled the advantage when he guided the ball with his head into the goal, past goalkeeper Glenroy Samuel, in the 28th minute.

The fans had to wait until late in the game, when two substitutes scored.

Brown finished off a swift counter-attack when he fired into an unprotected goal in the 74th minute; and Clarke scored with a powerful, low shot from outside the 18-yard box in the 85th.

Referee Daneon Parchment sent off Spanish Town’s Anil Ferguson in the 88th minute for striking an opposing player. Ferguson’s teammate Shevan James, who featured in the match and was substituted, was dismissed while he was on the bench.

— Paul A Reid

GILBERT… our conversion rate has to be better, I must agree, but we’re gonna continue to work until we get it rightPhoto: Observer file