Assistant coach guides team to 2-2 draw in JPL

Western Bureau:

Montego Bay United’s assistant coach, Dwayne Ambusley came out of retirement to guide his team to a Mother’s Day-inspired performance in their 2-2 draw with Arnett Gardens in the Jamaica Premier League at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Sunday.

Montego Bay started the game on the front foot and created a number of opportunities, but failed to find the back of the net. The home fans could not hold back their frustration when Kristoff Murray missed a glorious chance when one-on-one with the goalkeeper in the 19th minute.

Arnett took the lead against the run of play, with Marlon Allen breaking through the Montego Bay defence to beat the goalkeeper to his right.

Montego Bay found the equaliser from the penalty spot in the 39th minute. Nevaun Turner converted the penalty.

The visitors reclaimed the lead eight minutes into the second half, when Gerald Neil ghosted in at the far post to rifle the ball into the roof of the goal.

Murray found the equaliser for Montego Bay four minutes later to redeem himself, slotting the ball into an empty goal after a block by the goalkeeper.

Ambusley dedicated his Mother’s Day performance to his deceased grandmother and said the team needed him, so he had to just go out there.

“I have to dedicate this performance to my grandmother on Mother’s Day. Although she is deceased, I remember she always told me to do my best, and that’s what I did,” Ambusley said.

“The guys really needed some uplifting and they asked me to come in to fill a spot due to injuries. I was reluctant at first, but they really begged me to help,” the 41-year-old added, before revealing that he had little preparation for the game.

“It was just a week and one squad match. However, I have always kept my body in shape, and when I see how the league is being played, I knew it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t do. I didn’t know I could last the 90 minutes, but I did. I did not feel very tired, but tomorrow I may not be able to get out of bed.”

When asked about the result and the overall performance, Ambusley said: “It is one point better than before, but as you can see, we were more spirited tonight. I hope this can help us to push on to actually win a game, because I think we could have tonight.”

Arnett Gardens coach Paul ‘Tegat’ Davis said despite dropping points to two teams in the bottom third of the table for the second straight week, he accepts that that sometimes happens when teams are fighting at this stage in the season.

“We would have loved to win the game, but these guys are fighting. It’s just like when a team is fighting relegation ,so you expect these sort of aggressive performances. I think we did well playing against them,” Davis said.