Portmore rut continues
Published:Tuesday | January 7, 2025 | 12:22 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
PORTMORE UNITED failed to break their winless run in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL), which stretched to six matches, following a 1-1 draw with Tivoli Gardens at the Anthony Spaulding Complex yesterday.
Romeo Guthrie gave Portmore an eighth-minute lead. However, Steve Clarke ensured a share of the spoils with a 55th-minute header.
Since Portmore’s defeat to Arnett Gardens seven games ago, the St Catherine club has not tasted victory, and coach Rudolph Austin said things are just not going well for them at the moment but that they are working to get out of the rut.
“We created some chance but just didn’t capitalise on them, especially first half, we should have finished the game from there.
“You can’t keep teams like Tivoli in the game. You have to capitalise on your chances because football is like this. But we are just not scoring enough goals and we are conceding some soft goals,” he said.
Guthrie had the first real chance in an uneventful first half but lifted his effort over the bar from six yards.
However, the former Arnett Gardens maestro would open the scoring after eight minutes when Javier Brown won possession deep in the Tivoli half, and released the midfielder, who weaved his way past Barrington Pryce before slotting through the legs of Diego Haughton.
At the start of the second half, Tivoli brought on Clarke and Shaquille Jones and early in the half, Clarke tested Benjamin Williams with a good header, but the goalkeeper was well placed.
Tivoli would get their equaliser soon after, following good link-up play between Nichalia Fuller and Trevaine McKain, and an excellent ball into the area from the latter, which Clarke headed past Williams from close range.
Guthrie remained Portmore’s main threat and a few minutes later, he redirected Tarick Ximinese’s cross just past the upright.
However, neither team really created much afterwards despite some promising moves forward, and in the end a draw was a fair result.
Nevertheless, seventh-place Tivoli coach Jerome Waite was disappointed they could not close the gap on sixth-place Portmore, who have 24 points and are just four above Tivoli in the standings.
“The mentality was to get the job done, based on the performance throughout the week, leading up to the game.
“It wasn’t what I expected based on the end result. Furthermore, the first half was basically Portmore but it was a different ball game in the second half when we introduced Steve Clarke and Shaquille Jones,” he stated.