Arnett targeting second-round final

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Fabian Davis, player/coach of Arnett Gardens, has said that his side is targeting a spot in the Digicel Premier League's second End-of-Round final, following his team's exciting 2-1 victory over Portmore United on Sunday at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.

"Our goal is to make it to this End-of-Round final and we just need to accumulate as many points as possible in this round," said Davis, a former national representative.

"We are going to take it one game at a time and not get too overconfident," he said.

Garfield Gillespie (24th) and Kevin 'Pele' Wilson (90th) were the goal scorers for Arnett, while Shauntel Mundle scored for Portmore United in the 39th minute.

Davis said his team has been gelling and the players have begun to respond to his methods.

"I think that we played total football this evening because things are getting better with my team, and the players are responding the way we need them to respond in the training sessions," Davis said.

It was sweet revenge for Arnett Gardens, as they had 1-2 loss to Portmore United in the first round at Ferdie Neita Park.

The win moves Arnett to 17 points, nine behind leaders St Georges Sports Club, 26.

Davis added that his players had a good week in training and it showed in their performance against Portmore, because they displayed a good brand of football, both in attack and defence.

Unfortunate

"We did pretty well because we scored two goals and picked up all three points, and this is what we need to carry us forward in this competition," Davis noted.

Linval Dixon, the coach of Portmore United, credited his team for their effort and said the loss was unfortunate.

"It was a tough encounter coming here to play and unfortunately, we lost at the end of the game; but I must give credit to my team because we worked hard and we were hoping that we would have gotten a draw," said Dixon.

"I think we tried very hard and I believe getting a point would have been a good result for us but it never worked and we just have to move on from this," Dixon reasoned.

Curling shot

Gillespie gave the hosts the lead when he headed powerfully right-side, from a corner kick by Nicholas Dodd - a strike which flew past goalkeeper Dwayne Kerr.

However, Mundle pulled Portmore level with a powerful, curling shot from 20 yards, which went like a rocket past custodian Leighton Murray.

Portmore were reduced to 10 players in the 75th minute when midfielder Ricardo Cousins was sent off after receiving a second yellow card.

Arnett dominated the remainder of the match and were rewarded when Wilson fired home
a spectacular 35-yard free-kick, which flashed past the hapless Kerr in goal.