Humble Lion edge Portmore United in JPL
Chapelton Maroons fail to show for match at Effortville Community Centre
Published:Monday | January 23, 2023 | 6:35 AMLennox Aldred/Gleaner Writer
It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but home side Humble Lion did just enough to see off Portmore United 1-0 in their Jamaica Premier League (JPL) 11th-round clash at the Effortville Community Centre yesterday.
Andrew Vanzie eventually broke down a stubborn Portmore backline in the 78th minute to steal all three points to move up to third in the JPL standings with 20 points.
Humble Lion’s coach Andrew Price praised the effort of his charges, who had the better of the exchanges for the majority of the game.
“We got the job done and got the three points, which was the most important thing. It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but we stood out and fought well.”
Humble Lion will next face Mount Pleasant Academy, who didn’t kick a ball in the round after Chapelton Maroons failed to show for the first game of the doubleheader at Effortville.
When The Gleaner team arrived at the venue just before kick-off at 1 p.m., the Mount Pleasant team was going through their warm-up, but there was no sign of the Clarendon-based team Chapelton Maroons.
Referee Andre Farquharson instructed match commissioner Anthony Gibbs at 1:20 p.m. that the game was called off after no correspondence had been received from the Chapelton team or the Jamaica Football Federation.
The Gleaner has been reliably informed that a number of the Chapelton players made themselves unavailable for the fixture, so the Maroons were not able to field a team for the contest.
This action followed the sacking of coach Lenworth Hyde as the Clarendon side has been struggling in the league with just two wins from 10 games and are in the lower half of the table in 12th place with eight points.
The Gleaner was unable to get a comment from the Chapelton camp, however, the head coach of Mount Pleasant, Theodore Whitmore, said he is disappointed that his team did not get to play.
“It is a setback for us because we had players who we wanted to play and get some game time and match fitness. We just have to move on,” said Whitmore.