Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

Title holders Waterhouse staggered to their first defeat of the season following a 1-0 loss to Village United in Wray and Nephew National Premier League action at the Waterhouse Mini Stadium yesterday.

The goal was an early one for the Trelawny team who will count the win as an excellent recovery, having begun the New Year with a tough 1-0 loss at home to rivals Seba.

A combination of good ball work from the Village team and inattentive play from the back line of the defending champions, saw towering defender Preston Bernard sneak in at the back post for a 13th minute tap in.

Finding themselves on the back foot that early the home team never really recovered and seemed to lack both intensity and conviction in their attacking play.

Bad game

"We did not have a good game. We started slowly, we gave up an early goal, and gave up a few other goal-scoring opportunities against us," said Waterhouse coach Barrington Gaynor.

"After that we were always chasing the game and we played the long ball too much. They have very tall players, especially their centre half and their goalkeeper who did a good job as well," he added.

Waterhouse looked to at least have a share of the points three minutes into stoppage time when Kirk Ramsey sped away down the right flank to whip the ball into the area. A charging Roberto Fletcher, who truth be told didn't seem to be having his best game, slid in but could not make any contact with the ball which was then gobbled up gratefully by Village custodian Leighton Murray six yards away from goal.

Source of frustration

In fact Murray proved to be a constant source of frustration for the cup holders and had a solid game between the sticks. The keeper saw to it to that players and fans alike held their head in dismay when he went full stretch to deny an acrobatic scissor kick from wily midfielder Damian Williams in the 63rd minute.

"We didn't want to allow them any rhythm. We planned to disrupt their midfield for the first 15 minutes and from then on the game just flowed," said Village coach Fitzroy Reid.

"In the second half we gave them a lot of space for the crosses because we knew we had Bernard and the our goalkeeper around there and they would handle it," he added.

Waterhouse