Waterhouse win five-goal thriller in Montego Bay

Western Bureau:

Waterhouse FC came from behind twice to register a 3-2 win over Faulkland FC in the first game of the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) doubleheader at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall yesterday to climb back into the playoff spots.

Faulkland ignited their home fans after taking the lead 16 minutes into the contest when Jelani Nicholson’s pass was picked up inside the box by Tevin Thompson who slammed his shot across goal into the bottom right corner.

Waterhouse replied four minutes later when Duvaughn Dunkley, who was given too much space inside the box, beat goalkeeper David Swaby at his near post to level the contest.

Faulkland’s captain Nicholson gave his team the lead going into the halftime break. With just five minutes to go in the half came a moment of brilliance from the skipper who wrong-footed goalkeeper Kemar Foster before passing the ball into the net.

Less than a minute into the second half, Waterhouse were gifted the opportunity to level the scoreline when Val Armstrong made a rash tackle inside the box and conceded a penalty that Damion Binns slotted to the right of goalkeeper David Swaby.

A defensive error by Faulkland in the 55th minute left Shaqueil Bradford one-on-one with the goalkeeper and he scored what turned out to be the winning goal for Waterhouse.

With 13 points from their last five games Waterhouse’s assistant coach, Damion Gordon, said they have to keep building momentum to the playoffs.

“Just a little bit (of a scare). We are trending in the right direction, in the top six, yes, but we cannot stop here. The margins are very slim so we have to continue putting in good performances. I think today we lapsed a bit defensively but that’s the game of football because offensively we took our chances,” Gordon said.

Gregory Palmer, Faulkland’s coach, bemoaned “schoolboy defending” for their demise.

“The midfield and forward line connected, we saw the combination plays and got the goals. However, the defensive unit didn’t give us justice today. Schoolboy defending cost us today,” Palmer said.

Waterhouse are in sixth place with 34 points from 21 games while Faulkland are on 10 points from 21 games.