Gayle cautiously optimistic after Herediano upset

Waterhouse FC head coach Marcel Gayle said his players went into their round of 16 Scotiabank Concacaf League second-leg tie against Costa Rican outfit CS Herediano on Thursday, as mere ‘mortals’ but came away as ‘gladiators’. This was because the Red Stripe Premier League finalists held the hosts to a 1-1 draw before upstaging them 7-6 on penalty kicks.

The teams played to a 1-1 result in the first leg in Kingston on Thursday last week, but it was Herediano who took the early lead, this time through Yeltsin Tejeda’s second-minute goal. However, Waterhouse levelled the score before the interval thanks to new signee Colorado Murray’s 28th-minute strike.

HERCULEAN EFFORT

But Gayle gave the credit to his players, who he thought made a Herculean effort to go into the Central American country as underdogs and come out with a favourable result. He said that these are the types of matches the club has to win to put its name on the map.

“We came here today (Thursday) as mortals, and we leave as gladiators,” he told reporters at the post-match press conference. We knew it was going to be a hard game, and we stuck it out to the end. Herediano pushed us back from minute one to 90, but we kept our focus, kept our discipline. We knew coming here, if we held them for the first 45 minutes, we could win. The first goal set us back a bit, but we never lost confidence, and we kept pushing until we got a goal.

“We got back at 1-1 and told ourselves that we weren’t going to concede any more goals, and the guys played to instructions, and it went down to penalties. So it was down to the lottery, but we are grateful for the victory.

“It’s a great feeling (beating the defending champions), but we still have a way to go. If you want to go up the (football) ladder, if you want to be known, you have to beat the best teams, and today, we beat one of the best teams in Central America, but it is still a work in progress.”

The Drewsland-based club will now face Motagua of Honduras in the two-leg quarterfinals on September 25 and October 2. But after ousting last year’s winners, Gayle believes there is a lot more to come from his team, especially with the local season set to begin.

“It was down to the dreaded penalty, and there were so many mixed feelings, but I just knew that tonight was Waterhouse’s night,” he said. “Our season has not yet begun, so we are still getting there. Hopefully, we will be much better when the next game comes around. But it’s a momentous victory for us. We will take it as a stepping stone for our quest going forward, but we know we haven’t won anything, as yet. This is just the beginning and there are greater things to come. We just have to stay humble and be grateful,” he said.