Back-to-back finals for Mount Pleasant
Devonte Campbell the hero as JPL defending champions advance 3-2 on aggregate
Published:Monday | May 13, 2024 | 12:11 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Mount Pleasant are back in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) final for a second successive season after two Devonte Campbell goals carried them to a 2-1 second leg semi-final win over Waterhouse at Sabina Park for a 3-2 aggregate win yesterday.
Campbell, struck in the 43rd and 58th minutes as 10-man Mount Pleasant secured their place in next Sunday’s Super Final at the National Stadium.
“We are pleased to know we are in another final,” Mount Pleasant head coach Theodore Whitmore said after the game. “I must congratulate the players, technical staff, the sporting director, the manager. We kept it together.
“We had a lot of meetings, a lot of fights. But it was operation May 19 (final), and we are there now.”
He added: “It was a pretty decent performance. We saw Waterhouse last week and saw areas we could hurt them, and with a few tactical changes, it bore fruit for us.”
Playing against the wind, Waterhouse had the early ascendancy, and Andre Fletcher forced Shaquan Davis into an early save.
In the 17th minute, Mount Pleasant were again guilty of turning over possession cheaply, and only another brilliant save from Davis kept the score level.
The champions had their moments but were indecisive on the occasions they broke through. In the 23rd minute, however, only a deflection from a defender denied Sue-lae McCalla, who beat Kemar Foster to a corner and headed towards goal.
In the 37th minute, Demario Phillips slammed a shot against the post from an acute angle as Mount Pleasant grew in the game.
They eventually broke the deadlock three minutes before the interval when Jamoi Topey split the Waterhouse defence with a through ball, which Devonte Campbell fired into the far corner past Foster.
In first-half stoppage time, Kimonie Bailey had another golden opportunity but kicked straight to Foster in goal.
Mount Pleasant started the second half stronger, and 58 minutes into the contest, Campbell outpaced his marker on the goalline and squeezed a shot past Foster to make it 2-0.
Moments later, Mount Pleasant were reduced to 10 men when Shaquille Dyer was sent off after a second yellow card in the 65th minute.
Waterhouse did not make much use of their man advantage as Mount Pleasant kept them at bay. Fletcher had the best chance 12 minutes from time after some good exchanges, but again, Davis was equal to the task, denying the forward from five yards.
Davis also had to be on hand to parry a great freekick from Fletcher wide in added time.
Keithy Simpson eventually beat Davis when he headed past the goalkeeper from five yards in the fourth minute of injury time. However, Mount Pleasant held on to see out the game.
“We had to come with our ‘A’ game today. We had to be perfect from minute one to minute 90, and we were not perfect today,” said Waterhouse coach Marcel Gayle. “We went two goals down, but we left it (fightback) a bit too late.”