Waterhouse whip Dunbeholden, Portmore edge Cavalier in JPL
Waterhouse FC and Portmore United scored contrasting wins against Dunbeholden FC and Cavalier FC, respectively, to begin match week three of the Jamaica Premier League at the UWI/Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence on Sunday.
In the opening game, last season’s losing finalists Waterhouse FC put 10-man Dunbeholden FC to the sword, beating them 4-1 to move clear at the top of the table, if only temporarily.
In the other game, Portmore beat Cavalier 1-0.
A brace from Andre Leslie and one each from Cardel Benbow and Devroy Grey earned Waterhouse their third-straight win of the season. Dwayne Smith got the consolation goal for Dunbeholden, who were suffering their first defeat in the young season.
Leslie opened his goal-scoring account for this season when he found the back of the net in the 22nd minute, a lead which Waterhouse held to the half-time break.
He then doubled the advantage for Waterhouse in the 51st minute to give his team a comfortable 2-0 lead.
But Dunbeholden refused to give up and were given a lifeline when Dwayne Smith pulled one back in the 77th minute.
However, just when it seemed that Dunbeholden were clawing their way back into the match, Captain Shaquille Dyer was shown a second yellow card by referee Veralton Nembhard in the 82nd minute, reducing the Harold Thomas coached team to 10 men and giving them a mountain to climb.
Waterhouse then made the one-man advantage tell, first through Cardel Benbow, who scored to make it 3-1 in the 85th minute. Substitute Grey added gloss in the fifth minute of added time.
Waterhouse move up to nine points after three games, while Dunbeholden remain on six points.
Portmore United and champions Cavalier entered the second game of the afternoon desperate for a win after each suffered a loss in match week two.
It was a cagey affair between the two teams that produced relatively little goal-mouth action. However, Cavalier have only themselves to blame for coming away from the game with nothing.
The usually lethal Dwayne Atkinson was guilty of fluffing his lines on at least two occasions in the first half before Demar Rose bundled home what turned out to be the winner in the 39th minute.
Portmore were inches away from going 2-0 up in the second half when new Captain Emelio Rousseau hit the crossbar with a well-taken free kick from just outside the box.
After that Portmore did their best to protect their slender lead while Cavalier pushed for the equaliser, which they should have had in the final minute of added time. But Shaniel Thomas, who was unmarked at the back post, failed to make proper contact with his head from a right-sided cross and the ball went wide of the target.
Portmore move up to four points while Cavalier, who began the season with a win, remain on three points.
— Dwayne Richards