TUCKER, St James — Dunbeholden FC moved closer to a play-off spot after beating Montego Bay United (MBU) 2-0 in the first-round Jamaica Premier League (JPL) football match at Wespow Park in Tucker, St James, on Sunday.

Two goals late in the game — within an 80-second span and both from defensive errors — saw Dunbeholden snap a three-game winless run. The first was an own goal conceded by the hosts while the other came from the boot of Dunbeholden’s Stephen Williams.

The result condemned Montego Bay to a fifth-consecutive match without a win.

The win, Dunbeholden’s third of the season, saw them move to 12 points, the same as MBU. But Dunbeholden have a better goal difference and are in seventh place, one above the St James-based club.

Harold Thomas, the Dunbeholden head coach, was not impressed with the display but welcomed the win.

“The game lacked a lot of things for a long, long time,” he told the Jamaica Observer, “but in the end we were able to summon enough motivation to get two goals and win it but there is so much more to be done. But, three points is good.”

Thomas added: “We are at the point where we are looking for reinforcement in the [January transfer] window — and we are hopeful that will come this week.”

Dwayne Ambusley, who sat in for Head Coach Donovan Duckie currently away on a coaching course in Trinidad, rued his team’s missed chances.

“It’s a tough, tough one to take in terms of how we played and the chances we created and did not manage to convert, but then to concede an own goal and then a defender committed the cardinal sin of trying to dribble out from the back,” he lamented.

There were some positives, however, he said.

“In terms of the overall play, I would say we improved in terms of our approach play to goal but it was not meant to be.”

The teams battled mostly between the two penalty areas, with neither goalkeeper being involved for long periods. But it was the home team that had most of the possession, and Nazime Matalie-Grant had two good attempts in the first half before setting up a chance for Allan Ottey early in the second half.

MBU then conceded the first goal in the 83rd minute when, after stopping a promising run from Williams, the ball was poked over the goal line by a defender, just out of the reach of goalkeeper Davonnie Burton.

Just over a minute later the ever alert Williams caught a defender in possession on the edge of his 18-yard box, won the ball, and gave Burton no chance with a point-blank shot.