Waterhouse rally for draw

Ainsley Walters, Freelance Reporter

WATERHOUSE yesterday rallied from a horrible first 30 minutes, during which they conceded a second-minute goal, to draw 1-1 against league leaders Portmore United in their third-round Cash Plus Premier League match-up at Drewsland.

Roberto Fletcher fired past Shawn Sawyers from inside the area in the 40th minute to cancel Anthony Bennett's early goal, a left-sided shot Maurice Evans turned into his own net shortly after the start.

The draw moved Portmore to 44 points, one ahead of Tivoli Gardens, who pulled within a point of the leaders following a 2-0 win over last-place August Town at the Edward Seaga Stadium.

Waterhouse moved up to 37 in third place, but not before drawing the ire of fans in a disorganised first 30 minutes, which forced coach Wayne Fairclough to quickly make alterations to his starting 3-2-4-1 formation.

SNAP PASSES

Exploiting Waterhouse's vacant right-back with a quickly taken free-kick, Portmore went ahead when Bennett, partnering Roen Nelson upfront, picked up the snap pass and cut inside from the left flank before firing a shot across Evans, which the keeper got a hand to but could not keep out of his goal.

A confused and disorganised Waterhouse were hardly able to leave their half, constantly losing possession to Portmore's pressing midfielders for the first 30 minutes.

Howell, whose foul on a Portmore attacker had led to the opening goal, looked out of sorts and had to be switched from a defensive to attacking position by Fairclough, creating breathing space for his tightly packed midfield. The move worked wonders for Waterhouse, who started stringing passes together.

The homesters pulled level when midfielder Vincent Earle threaded a pass to Fletcher, who stumbled over a challenging defender but regained his footing to boot the ball past Sawyers, who had left his line to shut down the play.

A relieved Fairclough said his team has been getting off to shaky starts and needs to concentrate better.

"I believe for the last couple games we have not started with any zest and concentration," said Fairclough, who turned around the Drewsland team's fortunes immediately after taking over from Peruvian Danilo Barrigga near the end of the first round.

Fairclough said Howell's passing was badly off and he had to ship him from his defensive role.

"Howell was not getting his passes together and I had to push him to top midfield and ask Earle to drop back," he admitted.

Portmore's Linval Dixon said a draw was a good result, even though they had come to take full points.

"We came wanting three points but never capitalised on our start," he said.

Waterhouse 1

Roberto Fletcher 40th

Portmore
1

Anthony Bennett 2nd