Duckie 'satisfied' as Waterhouse win three straight

Nodley Wright, Gleaner Writer

Former champions Waterhouse Football Club on Sunday claimed sole position atop the National Premier League, as a Jermaine Anderson's strike in the 57th minute powered them to a 1-0 win over newly promoted Montego Bay United.

The win left Waterhouse as the only team in the 12-team league with a perfect record and pushed them to nine points, two ahead of defending champions Tivoli Gardens and Portmore United, whose games ended in draws.

"We have to be satisfied," a pleased Donovan Duckie, coach of Waterhouse, said at the end of the game in response to questions about the result.

"I think that in the early stages of the game we should have been two, three goals up, but we squandered numerous goals and let them back in. I think we did well, especially in the second half. We introduced an early change which stabilised the game for us and he was also the provider for the goal," said Duckie, who previously coached Star Cosmos, St Georges, Portmore United and Sporting Central Academy.

Montego Bay United's Hugh Solomon was in a different mood to Duckie, and justifiably so.

"I think we have been playing too good football to be losing games like this, we should have at least come out with a point. We got the opportunities, but we just did not make use of them. One of the problems that we have is that we are not shooting enough and we cannot score unless we are kicking shots to goal. We are tryng to walk the ball into the back of the net which is not going to work," said Solomon, whose charges now sit second from bottom in the league despite their impressive play.

Good play

The Montego Bay United team really played exciting football and for great portions of the game looked like they were at home, as they passed the ball around fluidly and caused numerous problems for the Waterhouse defence, with the pint-sized Troy Reid in particular proving to be a menace.

Reid combined well with the veteran Wilfred Smith, who should have found the back of the net on no fewer than two occasions.

Despite Smith's misses, Montego Bay United's worst miss of the first half and perhaps the game, came courtesy of Adrian Robinson, who blasted high from inside the six-yard box in the 37th minute, after Reid and Smith combined well to set him up.

Waterhouse were just as guilty of squandering chances too as goalscorer Anderson and Gary McIntosh wasted excellent opportunities which could have had their team comfortably in the lead, as the entertaining and effective Carlos Barrett opened doors for them at will.

Dismissed challenge

The visitors had the opportunity to go into the break in the lead when Reid did well to hold off the towering Hugh Howell and played a combination with Smith. He ended up on the top of the 18-yard box and dismissed his sole challenger easily. But with just goalkeeper Richard McCallum to beat, he shot wide.

Waterhouse came out a more organised team, especially in midfield, where Jermaine Ricketts, who replaced McIntosh, was slotted and his impact was almost immediate.

His lovely pass in the 57th minute left captain Keneil Moodie planted and his central defensive partner Winston Wilkinson was caught waiting to be rescued by an offside call. It did not come and Anderson scored what turned out to be the game's only goal.