Portsmouth off to winning start in LIME League

Anthony Minott, Gleaner Writer

Last year's beaten finalists, Portsmouth, were the only winners as the new-look LIME St Catherine Football Association Major League got under way with an opening ceremony and double header at the Spanish Prison Oval on Saturday evening.

Kevin Williams was on target in the 23rd minute to give the Portmore side 1-0 victory over newly-promoted Division One champions McCook's Pen, despite playing without six regular starters from last season.

Portsmouth assistant coach, Kevin Reid, was happy for the three points.

A good season

"It was a good start to the season for us as we collected three points and we can move on from there. We were missing six starters due to injuries, and late registration and other internal problems, but I thought our defence line stood up well and, thanks to the Williams goal that helped us win, the experience was invaluable in a team which is short on experience,"Reid said.

McCook's Pen coach Aaron Lawrence said this was a learning process for the team. "We used the first game to make an assessment of the players. We didn't have enough ball practice, we mainly did running on the road, and we knew we were going to be off in terms of our ball movement, and match practice," said Lawrence.

Four starters missing

He added: "We were missing four starting players, as they had the flu. We also forced our forward Dowell Brown to play, although he had the flu, to put pressure on the Portsmouth team. We created the chances, but we didn't score, and we just have to come prepared to win the next game."

In the opening match, another promoted club, Royal Lakes, drew 1-1 with Albion.

Last Thursday, the St Catherine Football Association signed off on a $15-million deal with telecommunications firm LIME to sponsor the major league, divisions one and two, the women's league, and youth tournaments.