Third time's the charm? - Portmore beat Cavalier 3-0 to secure third straight RSPL final spot

Portmore United's top striker, Jovan East, fired home a brace as he led the team to an easy 3-0 victory against Cavalier in the second-leg Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) semi-final at the Spanish Town Prison Oval yesterday.

They were 3-0 aggregate winners after the first leg ended 0-0 a week ago at Stadium East.

The win pushed Portmore into a third consecutive final in the RSPL. Portmore will play against the winner of the Arnett Gardens-Waterhouse semi-final clash tonight.

East scored in the fifth and 72nd minutes, and Jermie Lynch netted in the 48th minute.

Portmore United dominated the game from the start and kept the youthful Cavalier team on the defensive. Cavalier's strike force of captain Chevone Marsh, Alex Marshall, and 17-year-old schoolboy star Nicque Daley was well marshalled by Portmore's backline.

East, who scored his 15th goal of the season, said that his focus is on winning the title this season and not on the Golden Boot award, where Humble Lion's Craig Foster is leading marksman on 17 goals.

"Like we said from pre-season, the aim is to win this season. We want to do one better than last year. We are in the final again. We wanted to be dominant and [we] did that during the regular season," East told The Gleaner at the end of the game.

SAME VISION

"Nothing changes. It is still the same vision and the same mindset. Today, we shut out the Cavalier team, kept a clean sheet, and scored three times. It was a wonderful performance from the team," the former Calabar High School Manning Cup player shared.

"I think we won the game from off the field because of the training sessions all week leading up to this game. It gave the coach (Shavar Thomas) full confidence," East added.

"Now, we are in the final again for the third straight season, so it does not matter who we play in the final as the aim is to win the championship title," he pointed out.

"I am not worried about Craig Foster. I am worried about winning the game for the team. We will continue to work at it and see where we are at for the final. We will be ready as the players are together," East further added.

Cavalier's head coach, Rudolph Speid, said his players made some mistakes that led to the goals, but he had full praise for his young bunch in reaching the semi-final in the top-flight league.

"Portmore were sharper on the ball than us. I think that they were just better than us today. We made some silly mistakes, but they were the better team," Speid said.

"The pitch was very difficult to play on. We could not play our usual passing game. Overall, I have to say that I am proud of the players for what they have done this season," he added.