Sporting, Reno miss chance

Richard Bryan, Gleaner Writer

MISSING opportunities were the order of play as Sporting Central Academy and Reno battled to a 1-1 draw at Brancourt on Sunday, hurting either team's chances of notching the crucial sixth spot that would make them relegation safe in the Digicel Premier League.

That spot is still up for grabs, but both will face higher-placed opponents who have no such dangers and are keen to advance their title ambitions.

Reno, who now have 40 points, will play away to leaders Tivoli Gardens while Sporting will host third-place Harbour View.

Both goals were scored by Sporting, which first shot themselves in the foot in the 22nd minute, when central defender diverted a cross from Delroy Phillips past his own goalkeeper, Jacomena Barrett.

The second strike, which served as their equaliser, came in the 29th minute when the fleet-footed Damarley Samuels dribbled nearly 40 metres down the left flank before crossing to Levaughn Williams, who scored.

Even then, there was some element of luck as Williams initially connected poorly with his left foot, but made no mistake when the ball lobbed kindly on his right foot with both defender Nicoly Findlayson and goalkeeper Delroy Taylor much too slow to recover ground.

With head coach Donovan Duckie absent for the second straight home encounter, it was left to assistant coach Nigel Stewart to assess the performance of the Clarendon team, which inched up to 39 points.

"Same old, same old ... failure to take our chances," he told The Gleaner.

With his side's failure to notch a win in 11 games and scoring only five goals in that period while drawing eight times, he added: "It seems we like the struggle in the bottom six!"

For Reno, who surrendered the best chance of landing a safe top-six spot after back-to-back losses to Village United and St Georges - two teams which at the time were ranked below them - it was a similar complaint from Wendell Downswell, Reno's technical director.

Downswell, though underscored the absence of the team's two top goalscorers this season - striker Craig Foster, who is on duties with the national Under-20 team in Brazil; and skipper Obrien Woodbine, who is on trial in Sweden.

Biggest shock

Meanwhile, St Georges Sports Club produced the biggest shock of the day, the third-from-bottom Portland Club registering a 1-0 upset over fifth-place Waterhouse at Waterhouse Mini Stadium.

Romeo Parkes netted the all-important goal at the 48th minute for the Geoffrey Maxwell team, which moved to 36 points.

In another game involving a title aspirant and relegation contender on Sunday night, third-place Harbour View netted a comfortable 3-1 win over second-from-bottom Benfica.

Kemeel Wolf (14th ), Richard Edwards (34th ) and John Ross Edwards (62nd ) gave the Stars of the East a three-goal cushion, while Garfield Reid (93rd ) got a consolation goal for the St Ann newcomers in time added.

Next round of matches (Sunday, March 20)

• Arnett Gardens vs Humble Lions
• Benfica vs Boys' Town
• Portmore United vs Waterhouse
• Sporting Central vs Harbour View
• St Georges vs Village United
• Tivoli Gardens vs Reno

(Home teams named first).