No sweat for Whitmore’s Mount Pleasant
Published:Monday | September 16, 2024 | 12:10 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Mount Pleasant Football Academy coach Theodore Whitmore was a pleased man following his team’s impressive 2-0 win over Portmore United to start the 2024-25 Jamaica Premier League (JPL) season at Ferdie Neita Park yesterday.
Suelae McCalla, with a 28th-minute header, and Shaquille Bradford’s strike in first-half added time put the visitors 2-0 up at the break, and Whitmore had very few complaints even though his team wasted a number of good chances for an even bigger win.
“I am very pleased with the start. Very pleased with the first half of the game. The second half we took our foot off the pedal, but the execution in the first half was up to par,” he said.
Mount Pleasant started out controlling possession, and Daniel Green came close with a strike after 15 minutes.
The former champions eventually made the breakthrough when McCalla beat Tyrone Williams with a thumping header from a corner just before the half hour.
McCalla, Jahshaun Anglin,and Green, and Alex Marshall, who was substituted midway the first half because of an injury, continued to dominate their opponents in midfield, and just before the interval, Devonte Campbell released Shandee James down the right.
James played the ball inside the box to Anglin, who deceived his marker before unleashing a low drive, which Williams could only parry into the path of Bradford, who stabbed home from seven yards.
Portmore gave a better account of themselves in the second half, with Jamari Morrison hitting the post and forcing a spectacular save from Shaquan Davis late on.
However, Mount Pleasant were always in control and had a number of good breaks, where they could have added to their score.
“My disappointment this afternoon was with the final third of the pitch,” Whitmore pointed out. “We didn’t execute well enough in the final area, so that is an area we have to improve. We want to score goals. We want to win games, and that is what we are about.”
Portmore coach Rodolph Austin said his team never recovered from a slow start to the match while noting that there was work to be done in the attack and on set-pieces.
“We didn’t have a good first half, but we came out second half and gave a good account of ourselves. But we have to really work on how we start games. We gave up a soft goal on a set play, and we have to do better in those things.
“We had many lapses in the final third, and we have to work on those things, but this was our first game, and we just have to do better from here on,” he said.