3 months ago
12
Mount Pleasant Football Academy advanced to their third straight Jamaica Premier League (JPL) final with a 2-1 aggregate win over Montego Bay United, after battling to a 1-1 draw in their second-leg semi-final at Sabina Park last night.
Franco Celestine gave Mount Pleasant the lead after 38 minutes, but Brian Brown, kept his team in the tie with a 61st-minute strike.
Montego Bay then threw everything they had at their opponents, but despite a couple great opportunities at the death, failed to get another goal.
Mount Pleasant coach Theodore Whitmore was obviously elated to be in a third successive final with the St Ann-based club, but he noted, however, that they had a difficult night and thought his players did well to get the win.
“We expected a tough game but after we scored, we got a few chances to put the game away and didn’t. And then the momentum shifted after we conceded. We knew they were going to come at us, but we stood tall, defended and came out victorious,” he said.
“It was a committed performance. The effort was there, defenders threw bodies on the line, and that’s the type of fight we showed. But we got the game to put away and unfortunately, we didn’t take those chances. But we did enough and we are in the final again.”
Montego Bay controlled the possession for most of the match, and had Mount Pleasant on the back foot for the majority of the first half.
Daniel Reid had the first really good opportunity for Montego Bay in the 25th minute, but his poor first touch allowed the defence to get into position and his shot was blocked.
Moments later, Lucas Lima and Owayne Gordon combined to set up Brown, but his strike from 12 yards was blocked superbly by a defender.
Raheem Edwards then had the best opportunity to break the deadlock in the 30th minute, after picking up a loose ball just ahead of goalkeeper Davonnie Burton, and leaving the custodian for dead. But his shot was blocked on the line and Burton gobbled up the rebound.
Mount Pleasant took the lead, after great work from Devonte Campbell down the left. His cross to Celestine was a bit wide, but the Haitian left his marker for dead on the goal line, before squeezing a shot through Burton’s legs at the near post.
Three minutes into the second half, Jahshuan Anglin put the ball on a plate for Edward, who could not sort his feet out to guide the ball home.
Campbell then had a good chance soon after but shot straight to Burton.
However, Montego Bay kept plugging away and were rewarded when goalkeeper Tafari Chambers could only push Jourdain Fletcher’s shot into Brown’s path, and he turned home from six yards to make it 1-1 on the night and 2-1 on aggregate.
Montego Bay continued to press forward and pushed their opponents back, but Mount Pleasant were rock-solid at the back and gave very little away.
In added time, Montego Bay had a great chance but several shots were blocked by a fully committed Mount Pleasant defence.
Mount Pleasant then went up the other end on a counter, but Burton denied Chevaughn Walsh.
Then, straight away up the other end, Gordon’s cross caused mayhem in the Mount Pleasant box, with the final touch falling to Johann Weatherly, who failed to beat Chambers at the near post.
Although disappointed with the result, Montego Bay’s coach Paul ‘Tegat’ Davis praised the effort of his players.
“We gave it our all. As I told them, win and stay, lose and go home. So don’t hold back anything. It was just unfortunate we gave up a soft goal. But they gave the extra drive. From the first leg to this leg, we outplayed them. But they got the important goal to carry them through,” he commented.
English (US) ·