Georges blank Reno 2-0

Gareth Davis Sr, Gleaner Writer

BUFF BAY:

A goal in each half was enough for coach Geoffrey Maxwell to exit Lynch Park smiling, contented his team St Georges Sports Club had followed his plan after to brush aside Reno United 2-0 in their Digicel Premier League football game yesterday.

"They really played to instructions," said Maxwell. "We spoke about this game and the guys really stuck to the plan," said Maxwell. "We are always going to be competitive whenever the guys stay focused and concentrate. I only hope this level of concentration will continue and if it goes on we will claw our way back up the standings."

St Georges, bottom of the ladder in the 12-team standings, improved to 14 points overall, five adrift 11th-placed Humble Lion. Reno stayed eighth on 24 points, way behind leaders Tivoli Gardens, who have 37.

It was a game which saw Reno, despite enjoying a few good spurts, being outplayed in all departments as Georges kept running at them, with Romeo Parkes, Girvon Brown, the overlapping Dwayne Holmes and Horace James leading the attacks.

In one of the rare attacks from Reno, Troy Reid forced his way into the 18-yard box, but his powerful right-footed shot was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Randal Huie in the 10th minute.

Soon after at the other end, Ushane Dobson got by two players and fired a left-footer, which was saved by Reno's custodian.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 43rd minute when Jermaine Taylor played a long pass to O'Neil Brown, who lobbed the ball over a defender's head into the path of James.

One-nil lead

James hit his shot on the run, beating the goalkeeper at his far post to give Georges a one-nil lead.

The second half saw Georges continuing their dominance and in the 59th minute, they got a second goal when Holmes played a ball to Dobson near the edge of the 18-yard box. Dobson then played the ball to Parkes, who fired a right-footed shot to the left of the goalkeeper for a 2-0 lead.

Any hopes of a comeback on the part of Reno were dashed when Omar Dallas picked up a second yellow card, thus reducing them to 10 players in the 78th minute.

To their credit, the Westmoreland team summed up a late rally through Shashamarley Barrett, Fabian Blake and Obrian Woodbine, but St Georges' defenders were equal to the task.

Michael Graham, Reno's assistant coach, blamed the muddy underfoot conditions for his team's demise, although admitting that Georges were better prepared mentally.

"The condition was somewhat slippery for my team," he said. "We just have to go back to the drawing board for our next game. The guys tried but I believe we could have performed better if the playing conditions were ideal."