Mount Pleasant Academy jumped to the top of the Jamaica Premier League points standings with six points after snatching a late winner against Harbour View in the second game of a doubleheader at the JFF-UWI Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence on Sunday.
In the first game Humble Lions, who were hammered 5-1 by Mount Pleasant Academy last week, battled to a 2-2 result with Tivoli Gardens Football Club.
Late substitute Sajay Anderson came up trumps with a composed, stoppage time finish after a long ball was played into the penalty box by captain Ladale Richie.
Mount Pleasant moves up
Mount Pleasant Academy, who played with 10 men for the second half, now moves to six points from two games. Kevaughn Isaacs was sent off in first-half stoppage time after picking up his second yellow card for foul play.
Their head coach, Englishman Walter Downes was still happy under the circumstances.
“We planned for this — we knew at some point in the season we might be down to 10 men, so we had a shape we knew we could rely on… be compact and break wide, and go long and use our set pieces,” he offered in his post-game interview.
“When you lose a forward it’s still two banks of four [for opponents] to get through. If you’re well-marshaled and you’re disciplined… although you give up possession, then it can be comfortable. We had the discipline and the will to win, and we cherish the clean sheet,” Downes added.
His opposite number at Harbour View, Ludlow Bernard, thought impatience got the better of his team.
“Overall, I was satisfied with what they gave in the first half; they were able to nullify the Mount Pleasant team and limited them to stray passes. Yes, everybody is going to say that playing against 10 men in the second half you’re going to just go at them, but no. Probably what I needed was more experience in terms of moving the ball up there, but there was too much impatience,” he explained.
Humble Lions share the spoils
In the second game, Tivoli Gardens twice came from behind to share the spoils.
Warner Brown led the way with a double. After Andrew Vanzie put Humble Lions 1-0 up in the 33rd minute, Brown restored parity in first-half stoppage time.
But Humble Lions were back in front six minutes into the second half, but Brown was on spot yet again with the equalizer in the 75th minute.
Humble Lions have one point from two matches, while Tivoli Gardens are on two points after ending 1-1 with Portmore United a week ago.
Humble Lions Head coach Andrew Price was left frustrated with the result. “We played much better than we played last week — without a doubt. We took the lead twice, and I think we should have really closed the door and not allowed Tivoli back into the game.”
For Philip Williams, Tivoli Gardens’ head coach, sharing the spoils is okay with him.
“It was a very solid game right throughout… we stuck to our game plan, and it came through for us in the end. We played hard, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the three points,” Williams said.
“In midfield, we were a little sloppy and gave up too much space, but we got the point,” Williams added.
Monday’s games
1:00 pm – Cavalier vs. Waterhouse
3:15 pm – Dunbeholden vs. Montego Bay United
