Coaches satisfied after Montego Bay, Mount Pleasant draw

MOUNT Pleasant FA Head Coach Theodore Whitmore and his Montego Bay United (MBU) counterpart Paul Davis say they were satisfied with their teams’ 1-1 result in the Jamaica Premier League football match at Montego Bay Sports Complex on Monday.

Hosts Montego Bay rallied from an own goal conceded in the first half to earn a point against 2022/23 champions and last season’s runners-up Mount Pleasant. Johann Weatherly scored the equaliser for Montego Bay.

The visitors, who went down to 10 men at the end of the first half, lead the table with 62 points, seven more than second-placed Arnett Gardens who beat Vere Phoenix United 2-0 in the first game of the double-header. Montego Bay are third on 50.

The top six is filled out by defending champions Cavalier FC, fourth on 44 points; Portmore United on 41 points; and Waterhouse FC on 37 points.

“It is not easy playing against a good team with just 10 players, but our players did very well and we are satisfied with the point,” Whitmore said after the game.

He said they were at no time trying to settle for a point in the second half.

“We were always trying to win the game and we were playing on the counter, but we are happy to get a draw,” he said.

Davis, taking charge of his second game, said the draw is fair. It was also his second draw.

“The game could have gone either way, both teams had chances to win and we were playing [against] a very good team,” he said.

After a lethargic display on Thursday in a 0-0 draw against Racing United, Davis said he pleased with the energy that his players brought to Monday’s game.

“This is how we expect to play at all times,” he said.

MBU took the game to Mount Pleasant early on but it was the visitors who gained the lead in the 32nd minute, against the run of play. MBU defender Odean Nish put the ball into his own goal after trying to block a cross from Shaquille Bradford.

With time running out in the first half Mount Pleasant lost Jahshaun Anglin when he picked up a second yellow card. He had been shown his first yellow in the 36th minute as he jumped for a ball with MBU’s Demario Phillips, who fell to the turf holding his head.

MBU drew level four minutes into the second half when Weatherly was quickest to a ball that the Mount Pleasant defence failed to clear. He put his effort past goalkeeper Shaquan Davis from about four yards out.

— Paul A Reid