Photo: Damian Hyatt had a man of the match performance for Arnett Gardens who defeated regualr season champions Humble Lion 2-1 in the first leg semi-final at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex on Monday Night.
Arnett Gardens took a giant step towards reaching the Red Stripe Premier League final as goals from Fabian ‘Parko Blacks’ Reid and Vishinul Harris earned them a 2-1 victory over Humble Lions in the first leg of the semi-final.
The Junglist had to be patient against the resilient Lions but, after a frustrating first half hour at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex, the impressive Fabian Reid eased any lingering nerves by striking home cleanly from close range in the 44th minute.
A solo effort from ace midfielder Vishinul Harris put further daylight between the two sides with a delightful run in the 60th minute and a shot of equal quality to push the home team 2-0 ahead. However, Humble Lions decided to unsettle the jubilant supporters who were still in frenzy. Two minutes after the second goal an unmarked Kevon Reid nodded home a header from a well weighted free kick from Hugh Howell.
With the comfort of a 2-1 advantage heading into the second leg at the Effortville Stadium on Sunday Jerome Waite’s men will be confident of progressing to the finals to face either UWI FC or Portmore United later this month.
Despite a grueling two way tie quarter finals encounter against Montego Bay United, Waite- who has expressed his desire to lift the RSPL trophy for the fourth time in his career – fielded an attacking line-up.
An evening marred with a myriad of distractions wasn’t not enough to unsettle the visitors nor the home supporters. Just before the start of the game there was a blackout which lasted for 15 minutes. If that wasn’t enough the heavens open up and a heavy down pour followed for well into 20 minutes. FIFA Referee Karl Tyrell finally got the game going at 8:15pm. The Junglist almost took the lead as early as the 8th minute after Lennox Russell broke up the Humble Lion passing sequence and sped down the left-hand side before picking out Fabian Reid, whose thunderous shot from the edge of the area whistled inches over the cross bar.
Humble Lion, the end of round million- dollar prize winners had a two week lay off, after finishing the regular season on top and waiting on their opponent for the semi finals. They have never previously gotten pass this stage of the competition but the team under the management of the pragmatic Donovan Duckie were intent on making life difficult for the Junglist from the outset.
The Lions threatened for the first time when defender and captain Oneil ‘Bigga’ Thompson and Renae Lloyd made a blatant mistake and gave the ball away to the tricky Kevaughn Isaacs whose pile driver was easily handle by the competent custodian Damian Hyatt.
With the visitors pinned back in their own half, Arnett established a firm foothold and created a series of openings, as Vishinul Harris fired off target and miss controlled a delightful pass from Lloyd which would have been a sitter before Dasha Satchwell lashed another effort over the crossbar from a Lloyd knockdown.
The game slowly got up to an end to end contest which saw Humble Lions’s Kevin Reid trying his luck with a spectacular 35-yard free kick which was palmed over for a corner by Hyatt before Francois Swaby also fancied his chances from distance with a swerving effort that flew narrowly over.
Although dominating possession, Humble Lion could not find the decisive moment in the first half and were breached at the other end when a slick one – two pass between Lloyd and Harris freed up Marvin Morgan who galloped down the right flank and cut back the ball intelligently for Reid to slot home much to the delight of the hundreds of home supporters. The half ended with Arnett heading in the dressing room with a 1-0 advantage.
Clearly intent on killing the tie off as quickly as possible, the Junglist increased the urgency at the start of the second half and were rewarded in the 60th minute. Morgan’s quick throw in released Harris whose mesmerizing run left five players chasing his shadow before firing a low shot pass the hapless custodian Kadeem Davis.
Before the noisy home fans could settle back in their cold wet seats Humble Lion quickly turned their smiles into frowns. In the 63rd minute a careless foul was given away on the left hand side, which Hugh Howell took full advantage of. He whipped in a teasing cross which found an unmarked Kevon Reid to head firmly home to cut the deficit in half.
This goal brought some life to the visitors who surprisingly launched several attack forcing the goal keeper to be at his very best. Hyatt pulled off a man of the match performance with back to back saves from hitman Swaby with a wonder strike late in the half. Substitute Rohan Richards’s strike from outside the box had goal written all over it but it was turned around the upright for a corner.
Arnett’s only chance late in the contest came in the 80th minute when Morgan made a sublime through pass to Reid whose shot narrowly missed the target. Arnett played a disciplined final ten minutes to keep the score at 2-1 going in to the return fixture FIFA referee Karl Tyrell had an excellent game in the middle and did well enough to keep all twenty two players on the pitch for 90 minutes.
The Effortville Community Centre is expected to be filled to capacity for the return leg on Sunday which begins at 3:00pm.
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