Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
DESPITE A 10th minute strike from Jason Morrison yesterday at the Ferdie Neita Park, defending Wray and Nephew National Premier League champions Portmore United will not be a part of the first end-of-round final on Sunday.
Starting the day on 16 points, one behind Arnett Gardens, Portmore had the task of defeating Reno, who, until yesterday, had never lost an away game.
That fairly amazing statistic was cancelled out early when Keniel Moodie was caught in possession by the industrious Ashaine Murray.
After Murray dispossessed Moodie, Morrison pounced on to the loose ball and strode towards goalkeeper Kingsley James before coolly side footing the ball towards the left corner of the goal.
The partial save from James wasn't enough to stop the perfectly-placed delivery from lodging in the back of the net despite a valiant effort from Omar Dallas on the line.
Apart from that bit of urgency shown by Portmore and conversely, the lack of it by Reno, the game was not one for the purists and ended 1-0.
SCRAPPY ENCOUNTER
The match was scrappy with both teams losing possession too often for any coaches liking.
The only bright spark from Reno, was the off the ball runs of Ricardo Scott but he failed to get by Demar Stewart in the heart of the Portmore defence.
For Portmore, Murray started brightly and worked hard without much success after striking one-timers in both halves that forced good saves from James.
After the game, Portmore coach Paul Young pointed to the impending improvement of his team.
"Some days the defence plays well and on others the offence comes to life. We haven't been able to get the two on the same day but we are getting there and we are still in touch with the leaders," Young said.
Reno coach Bradley Stewart thought his team paid the price for being too casual.
"I thought the game was lost in the first 10 minutes. We were casual in defence and at this level you can't make that type of error," Stewart said.
GOALSHEET
Portmore 1
Jason Morrison - 10th
Reno 0
