Nelson wonderstrike helps Molynes Utd end Waterhouse win streak

WITH ONE swing of his boot, Molynes United captain Nicholas Nelson shocked, stunned and helped to solve the equation of how to beat the rampaging Waterhouse.

Molynes United, the bottom club so far on the 2022 Jamaica Premier League table, took the biggest scalp of the season to date, beating Waterhouse 2-0 in their game yesterday at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence.

Nelson’s 66th-minute curler fuelled their charge while Trivante Stewart added the clincher in the 75th minute with a well-taken strike that finally gave them their first win of the season. In the process, they are the first team to not only beat last season’s finalist this season, but to keep a clean sheet against the early pace setters.

It was a Nelson special that sparked the fire and he said it felt perfect from the moment it left his boot.

“I caught it well. From [this] week I was practising that in training, one-time curlers into the back of the net and it came out today,” Nelson said.

Nelson got the ball on the left side and his curling effort from outside of the box seemed to have been destined to go over. But it dipped at the last minute, giving Waterhouse goalkeeper Zeimoy Nash no chance.

CAUGHT BY SURPRISE

It was an effort that even caught Molynes United head coach Garnett Lawrence by surprise although cognisant of how lethal Nelson is from long range.

“He has been doing that all season but that was a wow! It was a wow,” Lawrence said.

It was the most unlikely of results given their respective positions in the table, with Waterhouse entering yesterday in first place. But even during their struggles, Lawrence said that the optimism in the camp has not waned.

“We have been losing and they haven’t dropped their morale at all. This week I saw a different side of their morale. We knew that we were at the bottom of the table but in our camp we knew we had this,” Lawrence said.

The only thing that may have been shocking was that Waterhouse did not concede more. Stewart, especially, was the main target as he had chances in the second half to make their lead unassailable.

Waterhouse head coach Marcel Gayle said that their lack of patience in the final third, as well as losing out on second balls played a role in seeing their perfect start to the season end in their fifth game.

“Molynes were a bit more [enterprising] in the second half. I think they were quicker than us [to the second ball]. I thought we played well but I thought we could have been a little more patient and could have made the field a bit bigger,” Gayle said. “Nevertheless we will take [lessons] from the game and come again.”

Meanwhile, Portmore United and Humble Lion played to a 1-1 draw in the second game of the double-header. Jevick McFarlane gave Portmore the lead in the 77th minute but Vishinul Harris got the equaliser from close range four minutes from the end. Portmore assistant coach Tashana Vincent, while disappointed at conceding so late, was pleased with the response after last week’s 4-0 drubbing from Waterhouse.

“Going down 4-0 last week, we could have easily come out here and hang our heads low. But we are Portmore, the brave and the strong, and we showed that,” Vincent said.

Even with Humble Lion posting a first-half shutout for the first time this season, Harris said that leaking goals has become a habit that they need to correct quickly to end their winless run, which now stretches to five games.

“I think it’s a problem, but we have to continue the work and build chemistry. It starts from training. There are many more games to come, so we still have to continue working,” Harris said.

Daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com