A fourteen minute blackout which began in the 70th minute of the game saved the blushes of second place Waterhouse FC in the Red Stripe Premier League on Sunday as they came from behind to defeat Cavalier SC 2-1 and snatch all three points in what was a lucky escape. Waterhouse now has 38 points.
Trailing to a 17th minute strike from Norman Dailey, the hosts produced only moments of brilliance in the first 45 minutes as Cavalier more than held their own on the Drewsland pitch.
In fact, Waterhouse was luck not to be trailing 2-0 as Oshane Jenkins should have doubled his team’s advantage shortly after the go ahead goal, but made a poor attempt at a lob with goalkeeper Kelso Cousins writhing in pain on the ground and his defenders scrambling to get back on the line to protect the unguarded net.
Waterhouse came close to levelling the score just before the break when Hughan Gray produced a splendid chest control to take down a raking cross field pass from Nicholy Findlayson, but astute goal keeping from Cavalier custodian Jerald Eastwood kept out the goal bound effort of the national representative. The rebound fell to Jermaine Anderson but he was ruled offside on the follow up play.
A minute later, Eastwood was called into action again when he had to tip over a right footed effort from Romario Campbell as the home team searched for the equalizer before the interval.
Cavalier was thanking the football gods moments later when a header from Anderson cannoned off the base of the upright and back into play in first half stoppage time.
Cavalier came out confident in the second half and had the first shot on target when the dangerous Shevone Marsh weaved his way past two defenders before charging into the box and getting off a shot. There wasn’t enough power on the effort to challenge Cousins, who saved easily.
Waterhouse tried to display patience on the ball and were rewarded for their efforts in the 54th minute when they earned a penalty after rough play in the box. The usually reliable Gray failed to hit the target and watched in agony as his shot went wide of the right upright.
A driving run from captain Damarley Samuels down the left flank led to overlapping left back Oshane Roberts being played in just inside the box. His cross to the penalty spot was met by Anderson who failed to make proper contact with his right foot and Eastwood had not trouble gathering the ball.
Then the turning point in the match came when there was a power outage one side of the stadium.
Waterhouse drew level almost immediately after the fourteen minute stoppage. A quick fee kick on the right side from the left foot of Campbell was headed home by Anderson in the 73rd minute.
Cavalier just never seemed to be able to “switch it on” again and eight minutes later, just moments after entering the fray, Andre Leslie finished off a sweeping Waterhouse move to send the home fans into ecstasy with only his second touch of the ball.
That second goal was enough to secure all three points for the Anthony Patrick coached team who cut the gap at the top to six points ahead of tonight’s encounter between Arnett Gardens and champions Montego Bay United at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.
Patrick was happy to get the three points on the night.
“It was very important to get the win tonight. We have garnered 10 points from the last four games after losing three straight. We are happy to still be in second place. We can’t win all the games but to still be in second place right now is good for the club.”
Rudolph Speid was left bemused at the light failure and how is team failed to regroup after the outage.
“The tactics were working well until the lights went out. The players just couldn’t get back the momentum after the equalizer.”
Cavalier remain in 8th position with 24 points but now find themselves leading 9th place Boys town by a single point with one game left in the second round.
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