Anthony Minott, Freelance Reporter

Westmoreland's Reno Football Club advanced to the second end-of-round final with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Portmore United at Ferdie Neita Park yesterday.

Reno FC's coach, Wendell Downswell, thought his team deserved the victory.

"It was not one of our best performances but it was workman-like. We played well tactically and we deserved the victory," Downswell said.

The all-important goal was scored by Fabian Blake in the sixth minute.

Blake lurked inside a shaky Portmore defence and poked home a pass delivered by Patrick Graham.

Blistering shot

The win moved Reno to 25 second round points and into the end-of-round final against Harbour View Football Club. They also pushed to 43 points overall, while Portmore remained on 39.

Nine minutes later, Kevin Deer almost drew his team level with a blistering shot from the right side that whisked over the crossbar.

Both teams were reduced to 10 men in the 38th minute when Portmore captain Anthony Modeste and Reno's Marlon Williams were each shown the red card for an altercation on the field.

The second half saw Reno playing a tactical game, lying back, allowing Portmore to attack and feeding off counter-attacks.

This decision almost cost them as Portmore created many clear-cut opportunities but failed to find the back of the net.

The second half kicked off to a dramatic start when Mario Swaby struck a swerving shot from about 30 yards out that almost eluded the grasp of goalkeeper Dwayne Kerr, as the latter back-pedaled and parried the ball from going into his net.

Veteran striker Onandi Lowe got a good chance moments later but his snap-shot from point-blank range grazed the left upright and came back into play.

During this time of relentless pressure from Portmore, Reno only played with a single forward up front and more pressure came their way when Mario Downer seemed to have an equalising goal on his foot but missed disappointingly, shooting wide of the target.

Substitute Jermaine Richards got into the action and was unlucky in injury time as his shot from the left side was expertly blocked by goalkeeper Kerr.

Portmore's assistant coach, Desmond Smith, said that his team was unfortunate to be on the losing end.

"I felt the guys played a fairly good game. We had more possession, we just didn't score any goals."

Portmore 0

Reno FC 1

Fabian Blake 6th minute