Lewis gives 'thanks' for strong start

Anthony Minott, Gleaner Writer

Calvin Lewis, in his first season in charge of Portmore United, has pushed the Sunshine City team to the top of the National Premier League (NPL) after eight matches.

On Sunday night, Portmore went to the Waterhouse Stadium and came away with a 2-1 victory.

The win placed Portmore atop the standings with 17 points, one ahead of defending champs Tivoli Gardens. Sporting Central Academy, which drew 1-1 with Tivoli, lie third on 15 points.

Alanzo Adlam (seventh minute) and Eric Vernan (31st) scored for Portmore, while Gary McIntosh netted Waterhouse's consolation goal in stoppage time.

Lewis has managed to inspire his young troopers in a positive way.

"It's a very good start for me, I have to give God thanks for such a start and the players and the board who have supported what I'm doing now," he said. "With this bunch of players that I have right now, if they continue to play like how they have been playing now then this team can create a lot of damage in the League."

He added: "The club has not been doing so well over the past few seasons, but this season the guys have shown a different character and that has pulled us through."

Added boost

Lewis also stressed that the build-up to this game was excellent and that gave them an added boost for the match.

"I told the players that I am very confident about this game (against Waterhouse), and I told the team that if we go there and execute the game plan then we will get three points," he shared.

Alanzo Adlam struck his fourth goal in eight games when he opened Portmore's account in the seventh minute. Portmore went 2-0 up in the 31st minute when Eric Vernan shot past Waterhouse custodian Kelso Cousins. Vernan benefited from a Rohan Grandison pass.

Waterhouse came to life in the 37th minute as Adrian King was introduced in the game. He received good support from Carlos Barrett and Damian Williams up front. In one of King's enterprising runs, he diced through the Portmore defence and crossed to Barrett, but the 'Firehouse' striker mis-kicked in front of goal.

Wasted chances

The second half saw Waterhouse showing some guts as they made some manoeuvres on the Portmore goal, but the bench could only watch as their attackers wasted chance after chance.

Barrett went the closest to scoring after he kicked inches wide from inside the box.

Mcintosh should have pulled back a goal for his team in the 80th minute, but surprisingly, he kicked straight at goalie McPherson when he was just a couple of yards away from goal.

However, McIntosh scored Waterhouse's consolation goal when he fired powerfully past Portmore goalie Garice McPherson.

The coach of Waterhouse, Donovan Duckie, was furious with the result.

"We got eight full chances, one goal; Portmore, one good chance that I thought was questionable, and a soft goal, two goals," Duckie summarised.

"We just have to continue to work. We played well when we were two goals down, I think we started a bit tentative," Duckie added.