Mount Pleasant stay alive

Mount Pleasant Football Academy kept their Caribbean Cup hopes alive with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over reigning Jamaica Premier League champions Portmore United in Group B action at the National Stadium yesterday.

Daniel Green scored the decisive goal in the 40th minute to secure Mount Pleasant's first win of the campaign.

The result lifted Mount Pleasant to third in Group B on four points, moving them ahead of Portmore, who slipped to fifth on three points.

They trail leaders Salcedo, who sit atop the group on five points, and are level with Cibao on four.

Cibao, however, hold the advantage on goal difference and also have a game in hand.

Mount Pleasant head coach Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore said he was pleased with the result, although he remained concerned about his team's finishing.

“I think it was a massive three points this afternoon,” Whitmore said after the match.

“I think the players showed character. We knew the objective from day one. I think we were wasteful in front of the goal, but we continued to create chances.

“We had to keep a clean sheet this afternoon. So, again, pleased with the overall performance of the team.”

With both teams in need of a positive result to boost their chances of advancing to the next round, the contest was expected to be an open affair.

And it lived up to expectations.

Mount Pleasant broke the deadlock in the 40th minute through Green. The striker was in the right place at the right time to tap home after Portmore goalkeeper Daviegh Payton parried an initial effort from Nickalia Fuller.

Portmore began the second half searching for an equaliser but struggled to breach a disciplined Mount Pleasant defence.

Mount Pleasant looked set to double their advantage when Green dribbled into the penalty area but was brought down at the final moment.

Portmore came closest to levelling the scores in the 75th minute when a cross into the area found Tedj Bryan, whose header drifted off target.

The match swung further in Mount Pleasant's favour in the 80th minute when Payton was shown a straight red card after being adjudged to have handled the ball outside the penalty area and denied Warner Brown a goalscoring opportunity.

Brown had the ball in the back of the net five minutes later, but the effort was ruled out for offside.

Shaqueil Bradford then squandered a golden opportunity to seal the contest in the 88th minute. After turning his defender and racing through on goal, his curling effort flashed agonisingly wide.

After the game, Portmore head coach Rodolph Austin lamented the defeat and felt the red card disrupted his team's momentum.

However, Austin refused to place the blame on his goalkeeper and instead accepted responsibility for the result.

“Our philosophy at Portmore is that we win together, we lose together, we don’t go back and point fingers,” Austin said. “So whether we win, lose or draw, it's our responsibility.”

“We had the momentum at that time but we turned over the ball which led to that, so we should have kept the ball a little bit better, be a bit more responsive.”

Portmore will now turn their attention to their final group match against Cibao in a must-win encounter, while Mount Pleasant will close out their campaign against Cavalier.

gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com