Reno hold Boys' Town to another scoreless finish

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

When Boys' Town and Reno meet, it's normally a tight affair. Things were no different at Collie Smith Drive yesterday as they battled to their third consecutive 0-0 tie, when action in round three of the Digicel Premier League continued.

It was the defenders' field day in Trench Town as neither team surrendered much space to the other. There were, however, a few ripe opportunities, particularly for the Boys' Town strikers, and a few embarrassing misses to go along with those.

They were misses that left Boys' Town's coach, Andrew Price, bitterly disappointed at the sounding of the final whistle, as he watched his team fail to make up any meaningful ground on overall leaders Tivoli Gardens, who suffered a shock loss to Humble Lions away at Effortville.

Moving up in standings

The draw sends Boys' Town on eight points in round three and 44 in the overall tally, while Reno moved to five points in the round and 33 overall, leaving both teams fourth and seventh, respectively, in the overall standings.

"I'm disappointed, especially with my players up front. We have been getting so many opportunities up front and we have not been converting them," Price lamented.

"The leaders lost today and we were not able to take advantage of that and eat away into their lead and close into the gap," he added. "It's really frustrating as a coach when these things happen, but I'll have to just go back and lift their spirits."

The main culprit was local hero Marvin Morgan Jr, who was perhaps a little match rusty after missing his team's last five games.

Morgan Jr somehow blasted a shot high and wide of the goal from the right side of the penalty spot after he was played through in the 60th minute. In fact, him getting the ball so high and so wide off target when it was far easier to score was nothing short of a miracle.

He was, however, not the only one who got a bite at the cherry for Boys' Town as misfiring striker Dean Thompson also failed to convert. With the goal at his mercy, he could find no way around goalkeeper Gavin Barrett, who bore down on him to close the angle.

Efficient Reno

In truth, the result was not only down to the non-existent finishing on Boys' Town's part, but also due to the workman-like and mechanical efficiency of the Reno backline; a unit that has held the host to 0-0 finishes twice this season at Collie Smith Drive.

Reno's assistant coach Michael Graham credited his team's defensive discipline, but denied that they came to Kingston looking for a draw.

"I think we played how we needed to play - we defended well when we needed to even though we didn't do enough in attack, so that's something we have to work on," said Graham.

"We came here looking for a win, but we saw throughout that it would have been difficult so we are satisfied with the one point," he added.

In another afternoon encounter, Benfica and Village United played to a 0-0 draw at Drax Hall, St Ann, yesterday. Benfica now have 27 points, while Village have 30.