Village, Arnett in uninspiring draw

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

It was an evening of uninspiring football at the Elliston Wakeland Youth Centre in Falmouth on Sunday afternoon as strugglers Arnett Gardens and Village United played out a lacklustre draw in their 2010-11 Digicel Premier League fixture.

As a consequence of their shared points, the Village United team remains rooted in the relegation zone on 22 points while Arnett, which started the game in seventh position on 29 points, moved up a point to 30.

For Arnett Gardens' coach Paul 'Tegat' Davis, who is desperately trying to turn around the form of his team, he believes getting a point on the road is a decent result although he felt that based on the superior possession his team had the maximum three points were there for the taking.

One point gained

"It was a game I believe we should have won because we controlled the run of play and enjoyed greater possession," said Davis. "However, our objective in away games is to get at least one point and we did that today."

For Village United's Brazillian coach, Nedier Dos Santos, it was a case of more disappointment as he believes his team did not acquit themselves well, especially after Newton Sterling was red-carded mid-way the second half, reducuing Arnett to 10 men.

"We enjoyed a fair amount of possession but we were not penetrative enough," said Dos Santos. "When they went down to 10 men we did not capitalise on the situation and that was somewhat disappointing. Nonetheless, we just have to keep on working to improve."

In the first half of the game, Village got the first two quality opportunities in the 12th and 16th minutes. Firstly, they won a free-kick some twelve yards from goal but the spot-kick by Lance Laing was woefully off target. Laing was again the guilty party in the second chance when he got away before the goal but booted straight at the goalkeeper.

Arnett wasted back-to-back chances in the 28th and 29th minutes, respectively. Firstly, Sterling broke free before the goal but slotted tamely at the goalkeeper and secondly, Sterling came up with the ball in a goal-mouth tussle, but hooked his shot wide.

In the second half, Village started out by missing an easy chance in the 47th minute. Greame Green got a clear shot on goal, but failed to get his shot on target. A minute later Ramsay was again wasteful for Arnett, firing wide from close range.

After Sterling was ejected for an elbow thrown at Ladale Ritchie, Arnett went ultra defensive, but Village never seriously threatened the Arnett goal and at the final whistle the teams seemed satisfied with their point.