Johnson happy as new system pays dividends

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

Waterhouse tactician Baris Johnson was a pleased man on Sunday evening, following his team's workman-like 1-0 triumph over struggling Humble Lion in Digicel Premier League action inside the Waterhouse Mini Stadium.

Sure he was happy about his team collecting all three points, on the back of a 74th-minute Kevin Lamey diving header. But he was more pleased with the success his new formation brought the Drewsland outfit.

For the second time this season, Johnson employed a three-pronged attack, which saw the diminutive and tricky trio of Jonathan Williams, Akeem Thenstead and Peter Keyes, leading the attacking line.

The three tormented the Humble Lion backline with several marauding runs, but it was the second-half substitute Lamey who went low, very low to meet a Kemar Thomas cross with his head and score the game's only goal.

It was a brilliant cap to a well-constructed play, after some good work down the right channel from Thomas.

"Our emphasis today was on our new system," said Johnson. "We tried to play three at the top and it worked out today, it paid off.

"We dominated the middle of the park, we tried to play behind them (Humble Lion) quickly and got the ball to our strikers as quickly as possible," Johnson continued. "This is the second time that we are using this system and what it does is keep the opposition on the back-foot."

And on the back-foot they were. The visiting Clarendon-based team hardly troubled their hosts and only had a half-chance within the first minute as the only threat of any note.

Truth be told, it really was a dull encounter and neither team, perhaps deserved all three points in this one.

"I wouldn't say we had to sweat for this win, every game in the Premier League is competitive. Humble Lion are at the bottom of the table but that does not mean that they are the weakest in the league," said Johnson, perhaps in agreement.

Humble Lion coach, Lenworth Hyde Sr, believes his young team, which featured a host of players from the club's Under-21 set-up, showed a little too much respect to Waterhouse, and thinks a draw was on the cards.

"We lacked concentration but we were playing pretty well and we managed to hold them out with the team that we had today. I am disappointed about the result, we should have got a point from this one," said Hyde Sr.

A lot of excitement

The game promised a lot of excitement when Humble Lion's Michael Morland pushed his effort wide after just 38 seconds from kick-off.

Not much more was delivered with both teams relegated to long, speculative drives; Humble Lion's Kirk Duckworth in the 28th minute and Waterhouse's Jermaine Anderson in the 42nd, both failing to really test the goalkeepers.

The second half was not much better but Lamey, like he has done so many times before for his beloved club, provided the spark, perhaps shaving his chin with grass in an effort to meet Thomas' low cross and rifle his header into the net.

The win sent Waterhouse up to 34 points, two more than Tivoli Gardens, in the overall league table, ahead of their big clash tomorrow at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex.

"Tivoli Gardens is a very good team, they are the league leaders and if they (Waterhouse players) aren't motivated to play a game like this then I don't know what they will be motivated for," said Johnson, while looking ahead to their top-of-the-table clash and in response to his team's mental readiness, following the 5-0 thrashing they received the last time both teams met - in the first end-of-round final.