Rasbert Turner, Spanish Town
LYN
AN 89TH-MINUTE goal by Daemion Benjamin took Constant Spring to a surprise 1-0 defeat of Reno Football Club, giving the uptown club their first victory of the 2005-06 Wray and Nephew National Premier League season.
Maurice 'Danny' Lyn, the coach of Constant Spring, which gave up two goals in the last six minutes to tie 2-2 against Waterhouse on Sunday, said he was glad to have broken the winless jinx in what was their 18th match of the season.
"It's a good feeling that the monkey is off my back and we have finally won a match. This (victory) I think is a result of tactical instructions given to the players on the resumption of the second half to keep the ball on the ground and it paid dividends."
Lyn also promised that the team will be looking different very soon.
"With the coming of the transfer window we will be having new faces and this will set off the desired changes in the club for us to remain competitive."
Victory pushed bottom-of-the-table Constant Spring to 12 points, while Reno stayed in mid-table on 20 points.
The match, which was played at the Constant Spring Sports Complex, saw both teams trading attacks throughout the first half, with Reno having more possession of the ball.
On the resumption of the second half Constant Spring started playing better through deft dribbling from the likes of Jermaine Richards, Evol Headley, Christopher Currie and Daemion Benjamin.
However, they were kept at bay by stout defending by the more seasoned Reno aggregation led by Omar Dallas and Keniel Moodie.
FAULTY FINISHING
Action nontheless continued to swing from end to end, but neither team could score, due mainly in part to faulty finishing.
Fabian Blake of Reno had at least three clear chances on goal but he failed to convert and let Constant Spring off the hook.
Hoping to effect a positive result, the Reno technical staff started to ring in the changes, substituting Gary McIntosh for Nyron Davis and Martin William for Ricardo Scott.
Instead, things changed for Constant Spring, most significantly at the 89th minute when Marlon Bennett won a free-kick and the spill from his effort was converted by an alert Benjamin, who was lurking on the six-yard box.
Scoring the all-important goal brought rapturous applause from the die-hearted Spring fans as the referee blew the whistle signalling the end of the match, a process preceded by several spectators who were shouting for "full-time".
Carl Palmer, the coach of Reno, blamed the loss on a lack of focus.
"We need to have people who can focus on 90 minutes of football and that's why we lost the game today."
"All in all it was a well-fought game and nuff respect to Constant Spring for winning. We will be heading back to the drawing board to put things in place for future games," Palmer stated.
GOALSHEET
Constant Spring 1
Daemion Benjamin, 89th
Reno 0
