By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Portmore United moved closer to a place in the first end of round final in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) after a hard fought 2-1 win over Seba United at Jarrett Park yesterday in the penultimate round of matches.
Portmore were the only team in the top three to score an outright win and made up ground on the leaders Harbour View and Waterhouse, both of who settled for draws away from home, and set up a potentially exciting last round on Sunday.
The Lenworth Hyde-coached Portmore are on 19 points, the same as Waterhouse but with an inferior goal difference. Both trail Harbour View by one point while Tivoli Gardens also moved within a point to keep themselves in the hunt for a berth in the finals.
Roen Nelson scored a hotly disputed opening goal in time added on at the end of the first half for Portmore while Andrew Morrison added the second in the 70th minute. Jermaine Anderson pulled one back for Seba in the 77th minute.
A BEATEN TEAM
The home team failed to play up to its potential and at one stage in the second half looked a beaten team with the players walking around with their heads down.
Seba's coach, Everton Tomlinson, said he thought his team had the advantage but failed to press it home and also blamed what he said was an off-side that was not called that led to the first goal against his team.
The Seba team appealed for what they thought was an offside call when it appeared three Portmore players had been caught behind the last line of defence.
Assistant referee Renaldo Francis' flag stayed down, however, and Kevin Deerr took full advantage by going down the right, crossing to Nelson who then had two chances to shoot at goal after his first effort was blocked by defender Everton Palmer.
Nelson, last season's top marksman, did not waste the second chance burying a left-footer into the corner of the goal.
POWERFUL HEADER
Despite coming out the better team in the second half, Seba went 2-0 down in the 70th minute when Nelson found the unmarked Morrison with a neat chip from the right side. Morrison completed the play with a powerful header past the hapless Alrick Henry in the Seba goal.
Anderson was well placed to score a simple header from less than two yards out seven minutes later when a cross from the right side beat goalkeeper Sean Sawyers and came back off the crossbar, dropping nicely for the former national striker.
After the game, Hyde admitted that the game was not the most attractive he had seen but welcomed the win, saying they got what they came for.
He chided the Seba team for what he termed overly aggressive play, saying "The Seba team did not come to play today. They came to war, we came to play some football but we have the fighting spirit in us and that's why the result was as it ended up."
