Thu | Dec 26, 2024

Montego Bay United striker Gordon faces three-week layoff

Published:Monday | March 14, 2016 | 5:43 PMPaul Clarke
Paul Clarke
PMontego Bay United FC forward Owayne Gordon (centre) grimaces in pain while being attended to by team physios in Sunday night’s CFU Club Championship football match against defending champions Central FC from Trinidad and Tobago.

WESTERN BUREAU:

Montego Bay United (MBU) FC not only lost their chance of advancing to the next round in the CFU's Caribbean Club Championship by losing 1-0 to Trinidad and Tobago's Central FC on Sunday night, they also may lose the services of red-hot striker Owayne 'Turtle' Gordon for at least three weeks.

Midfielder Darren Mitchell's 87th-minute strike was the decisive factor as MBU ended with 10 men after the sending off of centre back Winston Wilkinson for a second bookable offence.

DECIDING GAME

Both teams had beaten the other group contender, Cayman Islands' Scholars FC, and their Sunday night clash was the decider. Central FC had won 6-0 over Scholars, while MBU had won 4-0.

Gordon was replaced in the first half after he was accidentally poked in the left eye by a Central FC defender.

"We took him to see an ophthalmologist and the diagnosis is that he suffered what they say is a laceration of the eyeball, meaning that he was scraped in the eye, most likely from a fingernail," said Sandra Christie, the club's chief operating officer.

The injury could keep the player off the field for close to a month and comes at a most inappropriate time for both player and club.

MoBay United are currently leading the Red Stripe Premier League with 55 points, one more than Portmore United, who drew 2-2 away to FC Reno in their Sunday fixture. But the Montego Bay club has played one game less, while boasting a league-leading 45 goals.

Gordon, for his part, has been in sensational form, racking up seven goals in his last three outings for the club, including back-to-back braces in the Premier League before exploding for a hat-trick against Scholars FC of Cayman in last Wednesday's opening Group Three match in the Club Championship.

He has also become the focal point in attack for MoBay United in the absence of Dino Williams, who inked a season-long deal to play football in the United States.

"Gordon's injury does not sit well with the club. In fact, we are totally unhappy with the officiating in this match," said Christie, adding that Cuban referee Marcos Despaign was not of a quality befitting such levels.

"The referee, it would seem, never had an angle on the game. How can a player be seriously injured in the eye and you telling him to get up and play?" she questioned.