Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
Waterhouse's goalscorer Shane Edwards (left) moves in to challenge Rivoli United's central defender Omar Parker for the ball during their Wray and Nephew National Premier League match at Waterhouse Mini Stadium. Waterhouse won 1-0. - Andrew Smith/Photography Editor
A THIRD-MINUTE header by Shane Edwards was enough to give Waterhouse a hard-fought 1-0 win over Rivoli United in their Wray and Nephew National Premier League encounter at the Waterhouse Mini Stadium yesterday.
The lanky striker rose high and met a Damion Gordon right-sided cross and placed his header wide of goalkeeper Damion Crooks, to give the home team a dream start.
But that was the only goal of an exciting game as both teams failed to convert their chances, especially Waterhouse who created the more clear cut opportunities.
On at least three occasions Richard West went agonisingly close, along with Baris Johnson and Shane Edwards, to kill off the game for the homesters.
For Rivoli Marvin Henry, who has the record of most goals scored in a single Manning Cup season for Wolmer's, was kept quiet by Desmond Breakenridge and company.
A BRAVE FIGHT
Nevertheless, Rivoli put up a brave fight in their quest to find the equaliser. Omar Gordon, Garfield Reid and Derrick Planter took the fight to Waterhouse and really had the home fans on the edge of their seats. With this victory, Waterhouse, the losing finalist in both End-of-Round finals, moved to 50 points, just one behind leaders Portmore United, which dropped two points in their 1-1 draw with Reno.
Max Straw, Waterhouse's assistant coach, was fairly satisfied with the result and said his team recovered well following their nail-biting penalty kick loss to Portmore United in the End-of-Round final last Monday.
RECOVERING
"In this competition it is important to be able to recover from disappointments like the End-of-Round final.
"At this club we have a lot of expectations but we can't lose sight of the fact that this round is all about qualification, to move on to the semis," he added. "We created a lot of chances but we didn't put them away. But with so many players out to injury and cards it was a satisfying result."
Meanwhile, Anthony Thompson, Rivoli's assistant coach, was disappointed with the result as his team is eyeing a semi-final spot.
"We hope we can reach the semi-final but this loss affected us. It was a simple mistake but we got a late one, but didn't convert," he said.
