CATHERINE HALL, St James — After being told almost at the last moment the game would go ahead as planned, Red Stripe Premier League champions Montego Bay United and promoted Reno FC produced a tepid display, playing to a 1-1 draw in their opening game of the new season at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Monday.

Both goals, from Montego Bay United’s Ronaldo Rodney in the 25th minute and Reno FC’s Craig Foster in the 53rd, were due to errors in defence as the home team squandered numerous chances to seal the game early.

The game was supposed to have been the first national live telecast of the season, but the late agreement by the Montego Bay United management came after the television crews had packed up and left.

Orville Powell, owner and president of Montego Bay United, had said the team would not play any games until after the September 27 Annual General Meeting of the PLCA when he hoped that several issues they had with the running of the league would be sorted out.

One of the issues that bothered the defending champions had to do when they were advised that they would be opening the season against three different opponents.

Carlos Garcia, MBU’s Spanish coach who made his Premier League debut on Monday, said while they were not making any excuses, their preparation for the game was hampered by the sudden changing of the opponent.

Garcia also shot down suggestions that the absence of several top players, at least four starters from last season’s team, affected how the team performed. “No, no, no, we are responsible for the result we got, we should have been able to score more goals as we created the chances and should have scored more goals,” he insisted.

He will have 10 days before the next game, which will be away to last season’s runners-up Waterhouse, to get his tactics right and for injuries to some key players to heal.

Patrick Graham, who was appointed head coach at Reno two weeks ago, was happy for the point. “This was a good game for us.We were out of the Premier League for three years and we are playing the defending champions.

“I believe we gave a good account of ourselves, the players did well and stuck to the game plan we had.”

On a cool night and on a slick surface after heavy afternoon rains, the home team settled earliest and were rewarded in the 25th minute when Rodney shot them ahead.

Ladale Richie overlapped down the right flank and snapped up a weak clearance from the Reno defence and crossed it into the penalty area. The ball initially beat two MBU players but landed for their teammate, the lanky Rodney, who easily slotted home past goal-keeper Chad Baker.

Foster, who scored all five Reno goals in the two-way final of the Western Confederation Super League, was in the right spot in the 53rd minute to react first to a ball that came off the inside of goalkeeper Jacomeno Barrett’s left post, hitting it back past him to level the scores.

— Paul Reid