Photo: Romario ‘Rom Rom’ Campbell and teammates celebrate his first goal of the game against Arnett Gardens, scored directly from a free kick
Third placed Waterhouse FC put in a stellar performance against fourth placed Arnett Gardens on Monday night at Drewsland defeating them 3-1 in the latest edition of Red Stripe Football Monday’s. The win means that the Anthony Patrick coached team are level again on points with defending champions Harbour View (42), who lead them solely on goal difference.
Photo: Romario ‘Rom Rom’ Campbell and teammates celebrate his first goal of the game against Arnett Gardens, scored directly from a free kick
Third placed Waterhouse FC put in a stellar performance against fourth placed Arnett Gardens on Monday night at Drewsland defeating them 3-1 in the latest edition of Red Stripe Football Monday’s. The win means that the Anthony Patrick coached team are level again on points with defending champions Harbour View (42), who lead them solely on goal difference.
The game started at a frenetic pace and the home team were awarded a penalty when Arnett defender Oniel ‘Bigga’ Thompson was late on a challenge in the box. Hughan Gray who was booked in only the third minute of the high tempo game, calmly slotted the ball, low to right of Damian Hyatt for a 1-0 lead to Waterhouse with only six minutes on the clock.
Arnett responded quickly through Marcelino Blackburn whose left-sided cross picked out Newton Sterling inside the area. The tall centre forward headed wide of the target while under pressure from the Waterhouse defence.
Ten minutes after their first goal, the home team doubled their lead when Romario ‘Rom Rom’ Campbell squeezed in a free kick at the near post following another foul deep inside the Arnett Gardens area.
Shortly after, Thompson was presented with a chance to pull one back for the away team but dragged his effort wide after the ball fell kindly to him in the area following an Arnett Gardens free kick.
As both teams maintained the fast pace of the game Sterling hooked an effort towards goal then watched in agony as the ball fell on the roof of the net with Richard ‘Spoon’ McCallum scampering back towards his goal line.
Midway through the half, Haitian import, Chedlin Francoeur, could have put the game out of sight for Waterhouse when he found himself one on one with Hyatt, but the keeper did well to block the forward’s effort with his legs and keep his team in the game.
Ten minutes before the break, McCallum was again called into action when he rose high to punch away a Blackburn corner, dangerously whipped in to the far post. A minute before the break, Blackburn tested McCallum yet again when he whipped a free kick towards goal. The Waterhouse custodian was again equal to the task, getting a strong fist to the ball and punching behind for a corner.
At the other end, Waterhouse missed another chance to get on the score sheet when Kenroy Howell flashed a ball across the Arnett Gardens goal mouth but no player in blue and yellow could get on the end of the cross, as the home team went in 2-0 at the break.
The intensity of the game did not drop in the second half and Kemal Malcolm of Arnett Gardens saw red, when he reacted angrily to a strong challenge from a Waterhouse defender in the 57th minute.
The game was all but put to bed in the 65th minute when, Romario Campbell, who was having an excellent game in his free midfield role, produced a delicate chip from about 24 yards to beat Hyatt who was off his line. It was a sublime finish from the national invitee who would have no doubt impressed national coach, Winfired Schafer, who was in the stands.
Waterhouse, with a three goal and one man advantage were threatening to run riot as they moved the ball around well in midfield and created a few more chances.
Second half substitute, Steve Broderick ran onto a pass in the 85th minute and chose to shoot from an acute angle instead of passing to a wide open Gary McIntosh inside the Arnett Gardens area. McIntosh had another chance two minutes from time but he overran the ball as Hyatt left his line to clear away the danger.
To their credit, Arnett Gardens continued to show fight and pulled one back through substitute Fabian Reid deep into stoppage time. The final score of 3-1 was a fair representation of the home team’s dominance.
Waterhouse coach, Anthony Patrick was not totally satisfied with his team’s performance despite the win, “we should have won by a wider margin. We created enough chances throughout the game and you can look back throughout the game and see where we spurned quite a few.
“Nonetheless, we have to continue to get maximum points at home. This was a great send off for the team and the fans, as we head off to the CFU Club Championships.” he said.
An honest Jerome Waite, coach of Arnett Gardens said, “Waterhouse was two steps ahead of us tonight and the early penalty set us back. But we are still confident of making the semifinals (despite the loss) and we are looking forward to being contenders for the title.
“We played with 10 men for a long time and we were still able to get back a goal, so it shows character,” he concluded.
The win for Waterhouse helps them to keep pace with the top two who both won on Sunday while opening up a seven point gap on third place Arnett, who remain on 35 points.
Arnett Gardens was the first team to win a televised Monday night game this season, but has now lost two on the bounce. They may be hoping for an early game on the weekend.
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