Ten-man Waterhouse stun Reno 2-1 at Drewsland

Anthony Minott, Gleaner Writer

Waterhouse, playing with 10 men for more than 70 minutes, came from behind to defeat Reno 2-1 in a Red Stripe Premier League match at the Waterhouse Mini Stadium on Wednesday.

The win pushed Waterhouse to 22 points from 13 games while Reno remained on 16 points.

Waterhouse coach, Donovan Duckie, was quite emotional after the game. He rushed to his star striker, Jermaine 'Tuffy' Anderson, who notched the winning header, and also his fitness coach Chris Paul. Paul is doing a short stint with the team to get their physical fitness on par, or even better than the standard of the other Premier League contenders.

"I thought we played well today especially in the first part of the game. We had a lot of possession and intensity was really good, all courtesy of Chris Paul, our physical trainer.

"The team was very sharp today, it was unfortunate that we had a setback with a red card. We pressed on and that was the difference today ... . It was important that we won this game," Duckie said.

Reno took the lead in the 20th minute when Nicholy Findlayson scored from the penalty spot. The penalty was as a result of Waterhouse's Vincent Earl handling the ball inside the penalty area in the 19th minute. He was sent off by female referee Cordella Samuels, leaving Waterhouse to play with 10 men for more than a hour.

Waterhouse should have drawn level five minutes into the second half but Gary McIntosh's shot from inside the box was superbly blocked by an advancing Dennis Taylor in goal for Reno.

Despite playing with 10 men, Waterhouse went on the attack in the last 20 minutes and their efforts were rewarded. Their relentless pressure bore fruit in the 77th minute when Peter Keyes was brought down in the penalty box by Reno defender Glenroy Cooper. Keyes dusted off himself and slotted home the spot kick to level the contest at 1-1.

Brought the house down

Waterhouse had midfield maestro Rohan Amos to thank for his pass that tore the Reno defence apart and set up Keyes for the penalty opportunity. Seven minutes later, Anderson brought the house down when he headed home the winner.

Keyes was instrumental in the scoring of the winning goal, as he lifted the ball into the box where Anderson nodded home from point-blank range, much to the delight of the coaching staff and fans.

Reno's coach Wendel Downswell was extremely disappointed with the result.

"I thought tactically we played a beautiful first half. The last 15 minutes of the game we lost our discipline and we got individualistic and, as a consequence, we lost the game," Downswell.