TUCKER, St James — It was the perfect way to get their final preparation in place for Sunday’s Flow Champions Cup Knockout final as Montego Bay United (MBU) staged a gallant comeback to beat Sporting Central Academy 2-1 in their rescheduled Red Stripe Premier League first-round game at WespoW Park on Wednesday.

A slow-starting MBU were forced to dig themselves out of a hole after just two minutes, but two goals within five minutes early in the second half, saw the defending champions catch and overhaul the Clarendon-based club.

Dino Williams finished off a good move in the 54th minute to tie up the scores and Lesly St Fleur gave them the lead from the penalty spot in the 59th minute after Otis Friend caught a sluggish MBU on the back foot to give Sporting the lead in the second minute.

The win propelled Montego Bay United three places up the point’s tables to sixth place on 13 points, while Sporting slipped one place to ninth on 10 points.

MBU coach Carlos Garcia welcomed the victory and said an adjustment at half-time made the difference. “In the second half we dropped Kemiro James back in midfield and that worked better for us as it gave us more possession of the ball,” Garcia said.

He said that it took a while for the team to settle as they had not played a competitive fixture in almost two weeks. “The first half we were not focused… each time the league (takes a break) we lose concentration and it took a lot of time to get back into the game and a mistake led to the goal against us,” Garcia added.

Eventually MBU got into a rhythm and took over the game in the second half. “The second-half performance helps to boost (the team’s) confidence, this is how we want to play,” Garcia ended.

The original fixture between the teams had to be postponed from after the PLCA-provided bus that was to transport Sporting to the game turned up late and was also late again on Wednesday, as the team left almost four hours later than planned and that affected the team’s preparation, said coach Nigel Stewart.

“We had planned to leave after 7:00 am to get here (Montego Bay) with sufficient time,” Stewart said. “But issues with transportation and (we) did not leave until after 10:00 am and got here late, just had time to change and get ready to play and that did affect our preparation,” Stewart lamented.

That aside, he said his team “came and played but just did not put out enough”.

After taking an early lead, Stewart said “a little bit of indiscipline crept in”. “We were backing off and giving away the ball and did not make use of the chances when we got them,” he said.

Under a scorching afternoon sun that forced the few fans to seek any shade they could find, MBU had little time to settle as Friend dribbled down the left side, caught the defence backtracking and curled a shot wide of goalkeeper Jacomeno Barrett’s left hand into the goal with just over a minute gone in the game.

Friend had another chance in the 23rd minute when he again breached the MBU defence, but opted to pass to Kavin Bascom, who was more central, but his shot was saved by Barrett.

MBU pulled level nine minutes into the second half when Williams finished off a good move by kicking into an unguarded goal — a good move down the right had dragged the Sporting defence and goalkeeper Romaine Bowers to that side and left the goal wide open for St Fleur to find Williams with an inch-perfect pass.

Five minutes later, pressure forced a Sporting defender to handle the ball in his own area and St Fleur stepped up to bury the spot kick past Bowers.

Despite MBU controlling the game, it was Sporting who had the best chances to score late in the game, but Andre Jones shot weakly at goal from a few feet out in the 68th minute, then failed to capitalise on a mistake by Barrett a few minutes later, letting MBU off the hook.

Teams:

Montego Bay United — Jacomeno Barrett, Lesly St Fleur, Winston Wilkinson, Orlando McBayne, John Barrett, Dwayne Ambusley, Allan Ottey, Ronaldo Rodney, Dino Williams (O’Carey Spence-73rd), Kemiro James (Donovan Carey-86th), Omar Gordon (Jerome Haughton-82nd).

Subs not used: Garen Downie, Ladale Richie, Kyle Anderson, Cordel Simpson

Booked: John Barrett (92nd)

Sporting Central — Camaal Reid, Cory Hylton, Dale Watson, Kavin Bascom (Andre Jones-35th), Kemar Drake, Kevon Reid, Linval Lewis, Michael Moreland (Duhaney Williams-55th), Otis Friend, Rodney Witter (Joe Cedron Diaz-75th), Romaine Bowers.

Subs not used: Allien Whittaker, Christopher Thompson, Mikhail Howell, Romay Parkins

Booked: None

Referee: Courtney Campbell

Assistants: Nicholas Anderson, Ojay Dehaney

Fourth Official: Daneon Parchment

Match Commissary: Fitzroy Reid