MBU march back to the summit

Former champions Montego Bay United (MBU) moved back to the top of the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) standings yesterday with a 1-0 victory over Tivoli Gardens.

The win moved MBU to 35 points, three ahead of Racing United. They are followed by Portmore United, who thrashed Spanish Town Police 4-0 to move to 30 points. Mount Pleasant Academy, who have four games in hand, are fourth on 24 points while defending champions Cavalier round off the top five with 23 points.

Veteran 34-year-old forward Owayne Gordon scored yesterday's winner in the 62nd minute for MBU. MBU's Jourdain Fletcher is the competition's leading scorer with nine goals. He is followed by Rohan Brown of Harbour View and Tajay Grant of Racing United. Both have eight goals.

Meanwhile, Vassell Reynolds, head coach of Harbour View, says yesterday's 1-1 draw against Waterhouse was a fair result for his team. The game, which was played at the Harbour View Mini Stadium, saw Brown scoring for Harbour View in the 53rd minute, while Colorado Murray netted for Waterhouse in the 89th minute.

Harbour View, who remain 12th in the standings, are now on 15 points. They have failed to win in their last six outings under head coach Reynolds, who took over in October. In fact, before yesterday's game against Waterhouse, Harbour View had lost their previous three matches.

"It was not one of the better performances but not a bad result for us," said Reynolds. "We felt disappointed because of the time of the game that we conceded and having given the Waterhouse team a lot of scoring chances that they failed to capitalise on we figure that it was a fair result for us. The second half was a much better performance from us but all in all I thought it was a good performance," Reynolds said.

On the other hand, Waterhouse have now drawn their last three games under their new head coach, Argentine-born Javier Ainstein. The Drewsland-based club are ninth in the standings with 18 points.

The first half was fiercely contested as both teams went in search of the opening goal. However, it was Waterhouse who came closest to scoring when Duwayne Burger's right-footed 30-yard free kick struck the crossbar in the 30th minute. Captain Kymani Campbell also came close a few minutes later, but his 25-yard free kick went just wide of the target.

Harbour View defended well in the first half but failed to register a shot on target during the period. Waterhouse, who had 55 per cent possession in the first stanza, also earned six corner kicks compared to Harbour View's one.

Harbour View took the lead eight minutes into the second half against the run of play when Brown fired home from close range. Murray later levelled the score a minute from full time with a powerful shot from just inside the 18-yard box.