Waterhouse……………………….3

Gray (50th, 54th), Anderson (88th)

Portmore…………………..0

Waterhouse revived their slender hopes of winning a third Red Stripe Premier League title by dumping 10-man Portmore United out of contention with 3-0 demolition at Drewsland on Sunday in a late kick off.

Hughan Gray, playing as an overlapping right back, rammed home two early second half goals in the space of four minutes, with the onfire Jermaine Anderson adding another two minutes from the end to keep the challenge of Waterhouse on leaders Harbour View alive.

The win puts Waterhouse on 56 points against 62 for Harbour View who were due to play against Tivoli Gardens in last night’s edition of Monday Night Football.

Going into Sunday’s final round Top-Six games three teams — Portmore, Waterhouse and Boys’ Town — were locked on 53 points. However, with Boys’ Town dropping two valuable points away to Arnett Gardens in their Trench Town derby which ended 1-1 and Portmore losing, leaves Waterhouse as the most serious challenger to Harbour View in the title race.

The tenet that goals win matches will haunt Portmore for the rest of the season. They were the better team on the pitch for the first half, but failed to take advantage of the numerous goalscoring chances that came their way and paid the price with defeat.

To add fuel to fire, two minutes after falling behind by two goals, Portmore went down to 10 players after Ryan Wellington saw red following a rash tackle of Anderson on the near side. Playing with a man short afterwards seemed to have inspired the Portmore players, who by their industry, had Waterhouse scrambling to stay afloat.

However, the effects of playing a man short eventually took its toll and they gave up a third goal in the dying moments.

Waterhouse coach Junior Francis said that Sunday’s win re-ignited hopes that the title race is not yet over.

“This victory is a boost for us and serves as a motivation for the team. In preparation we showed the players that if we can get good results in the first three games, then we will have a good shot at winning the title… for we will not lose the other two,” he said.

The lost that summarily rules Portmore out of contention prompted coach Linval Dixon to heartily congratulate the opposition and blasted his team’s faulty finishing. “On reflection we have only ourselves to blame for the final result… we dominated the first half but failed to capitalise on the chances… Waterhouse must be given full credit,” Dixon said.

Teams:

Waterhouse — Richard McCallum, Rohan Amos, Nicholi Finlayson, Hughan Gray, Jameel Thompson, Owen Walters (Weston Forrest 46th), Darmarley Samuels (Nieko Williams 88th), Juvaune Benjamin, Theo Brown (Troy Reid 68th), Hugh Howell, Jermaine Anderdson.

Subs not used: K Cousins, G McIntosh, D Oliver, M Ricketts

Booked: Forrest (73rd), Howell (74th)

Portmore United — CarLloyd Walters, Adrian Reid, Rickcardo Harriot, Alvas Powell (Adoah Nickle 74th), Ryan Wellington, Damian Binns, Ewan Grandison, Bryan Bayliss (Stephen Williams 66th), Ricardo Morris, Andrew Christie, Cleaon Pryce.

Subs not used: A Darby

Booked: Wellington (ejected-56th), Harriott (87th)

Referee: Kevin Thomas

Assistant Referees: Garnet Page, Keble Williams

Fourth Official: Cavel Banton

Match Commissary: Charles Barrett.