Mt Pleasant FA restore seven points lead in JPL, beat Humble Lion 5-0
ST JAMES, Jamaica — Daniel Green scored a hat trick as Mt Pleasant FA restored their seven-point lead in the Jamaica Premier League after hammering Humble Lion 5-0 in their second-round game played at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Monday.
Mt Pleasant FA led 2-0 at half-time before mowing down the last-placed team in the second half in a mostly lopsided contest.
They are now on 58 points.
Mt Pleasant wasted little time in getting the lead with Green scoring after just four minutes beating goalkeeper Peter Harrison low to his left.
The St Ann team were 2-0 up in the 24th minute when Green buried a penalty after a defender handled the ball just outside the six-yard box.
Alex Marshall, who replaced Shaquille Bradford at the start of the second half, made it 3-0 in the 58th minute with a sweet left-footed volley.
Teenager Jabari Howell introduced himself to the football public when his powerful shot from outside the 18-yard box, took a deflection and flew past Harrison in the 82nd minute.
Green completed his hat trick two minutes later when he was sent through the middle of the Humble Lion defence and slotted home easily.
Meanwhile, Montego Bay United snapped a two-game winless skid with a 3-1 victory over Tivoli Gardens in the second game of the doubleheader and improved to 48 points, three behind second-placed Arnett Gardens.
In that second game, Owayne Gordon ended a 15-game scoreless run when he scored a brilliant free kick to give Montego Bay United the lead in the 30th minute.
Central defender Jordan Britto scored his first JPL goal when he headed home from a corner in the 74th minute before Jourdain Fletcher caught goalkeeper Nicholas Clarke well off his line on a swift counterattack and fired home from long range in the 90th minute.
Nickalia Fuller scored a consolation for Tivoli Gardens, a sublime free kick from just on the edge of the 18-yard box in time added.
— Paul Reid