Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
WATERHOUSE MADE a good start to the second round of the Wray and Nephew National Premier League with a 2-0 win over 10-man Arnett Gardens at the Waterhouse Mini-Stadium yesterday.
A new-look Waterhouse team, scored in the fourth minute from new signing Damion Williams, whose effort was added to in the 87th minute through a Nerado Jenkinson goal.
The result means that Waterhouse move to 19 points in the table but couldn't improve on their sixth place position.
Arnett (20), coming off a title win in the first End-of Round Final against Harbour View the previous week, have now dropped to fourth place behind Village, who have a better goal average.
Waterhouse, who had made a number of changes to their line-up for the game, benefitted from the early industry of Williams, who found himself everywhere on the park. More importantly, he found himself running onto a long pass from a free-kick that was taken in his team's half to give his side a most valuable lead.
He managed to control the ball that came from the right side of the field with his left foot and tap the ball past a hapless Julian McLeish with his right despite the attention of Arnett defenders.
After the goal Arnett had to be alert under some intense pressure from Waterhouse. At one point, the visitors had to defend against five corners in the space of a minute.
RED CARD
Arnett did begin to settle and could have gotten back into the game. However, Jermaine Benjamin was shown the red card in the 38th minute by referee Peter Prendergast, after the defensive midfielder had done a hack job on Irvino English.
The stylish wing-back, who was doing duties in midfield for Waterhouse, could take no further part in the activities after the tackle and had to be taken to hospital for x-rays on his left instep.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, or because of it, Arnett began playing very direct football in the second-half while striving for an equaliser.
However, after a spate of missed opportunities by both teams, it was Warehouse who came out on top as sloppy defending allowed Jenkinson a one-on-one opportunity with McLeish that he made count.
After the game, Arnett's coach Michael Tulloch, said he was proud of his team despite the defeat.
"I think my team played an excellent game in terms of the fight and committment, being down 10men from the first half," said Tulloch.
Waterhouse's Calvert Fitzgerald still has a problem with his team not scoring as much as they should.
"As you can see we've reorganised the team and put players in different positions. We are still creating the opportunities but we are still not finishing," he said.
GOALSHEET
Waterhouse - 2
Damion Williams - 4th, Nerado Jenkinson - 87th
Arnett - 0
