Fabian Reid’s late goal lifts Arnett Gardens

Cometh the hour, cometh the captain for Arnett Gardens as a late strike from Fabian Reid saw them defeating Club Atletico Pantoja 2-1 to advance to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Shield final as well as securing their ticket to the Concacaf Caribbean Cup.

It was a close contest throughout most of the match as both teams sought the all-important goal to break the deadlock.

Arnett’s head coach Xavier Gilbert praised both teams in his post-match interview as he applauded the effort by Atletico Pantoja as well as the commitment from his team.

“They were smart in terms of their approach,” he said about his opponents. “They are a good team, a quality team, they set us back and we had problems breaking them down.

“Luckily for us, we never gave up and we found a winner late in the game. I have to lift my hat off to the players, they really stuck to the task and we managed to find the winner.”

Arnett opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Keneldo Brown picked up on a diagonal pass to slot past the goalkeeper.

The goal was Brown’s second of the tournament following his strike against Racing Club Aruba in the Round of 16.

Atletico Pantajo, however, found the equaliser just a few minutes later.

A rash challenge from Jamone Shepherd in the penalty box gave the Dominican Republic club the opening they needed to pull level and Robert Rosado made no mistake from the spot.

Things would go downhill for Pantajo, however, as Jeremy Baez picked up his second yellow card in the first half for a reckless challenge and was given his marching orders.

Playing with a one-man advantage for most of the game, Arnett pressed for the go-ahead goal but struggled to find the winner.

Gilbert blamed the team’s lack of patience in the final third for their difficulties in front of goal.

“We got some opportunities in the game, especially when they went down to 10 but we rushed our decision-making and we could have been a little bit more patient up top.”

THE CAPTAIN STEPS UP

With the time running out and the threat of a penalty shootout looming, Reid showed his pedigree in front of goal to snatch a late winner in added time.

He ghosted behind his marker at the back post to score past the outstretched goalkeeper and sealed the win.

The goal is Reid’s fourth of the tournament following his hat trick against Jong Holland in the quarterfinals.

The win sees Arnett into the final of the CFU Club Shield as well as becoming the third Jamaican team to qualify for this year’s staging of the Concacaf Caribbean Cup alongside Cavalier and Mount Pleasant Football Academy.