Howard Walker, Staff Reporter

Portmore United midfielder Jason Morrison (left) and Harbour View's Loxley Thomas tussle for the ball during their Wray and Nephew National Premier League clash at Prison Oval, Spanish Town, on Sunday. The match ended 0-0. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Waterhouse FC pulled within two points of leaders Harbour View with a 4-2 win over Arnett Gardens in their Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) game at Drewsland on Sunday.

Roberto Fletcher (27th), Brian Wollaston (46th), Irvino English 51st and Garfield Reid (66th), ensured maximum points for the defending champions.

Just like most of last season, Harbour View lead with 16 points, two ahead of Waterhouse on 14 with the rest of the pack toiling in their wake.

Leon Strickland grabbed his fifth and sixth goals of the season in the 53rd and 62nd minutes, but Arnett Gardens dropped from fourth to eight place on seven points.

Winning coach Barrington Gaynor said his team should have won easily but injuries allowed Arnett back into the game.

Said Gaynor: "It should have been but because of all the injuries we ended up playing with 10 players at the end of the game and it made it very difficult for us.

"We got disrupted because people had to be going into different positions to compensate for the injuries and the shortage of players. But at the end of the day we got the three points and that's the most important thing," added Gaynor.

Meanwhile, Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey, Arnett's coach, was a disappointed man after his team's loss but identified some positive signs nevertheless.

Costly blunder

Said Bailey: "The game started off and we had Waterhouse on the ropes, we got a penalty and you know goals change the direction of the game and by missing that early chance it hurt us."

He continued: "What hurt us today is that we gave up three soft goals. Defensively we're still having problems and it will take a time. There were some bad signs and some positive signs and we can come out of this and go forward."

Arnett missed two chances in the first five minutes, including Marcelino Blackburn's feeble penalty kick which was well held by national goalkeeper Richard McCallum.

Waterhouse struck back like real champions as Fletcher bundled in a cross from Reid in the 27th minute to lead 1-0 at the half.

Immediately on the resumption, in the 46th minute, William Richards lost possession and a pass was made to Wollaston free, who picked his spot and kicked wide of Julian McLeish in goal. Assistant referee Alton Reid had raised his flag to indicate Wollaston had been in an offside position but referee Hughill Thompson failed to acknowledge him and ruled goal instead.

Veteran Irvino English then showed Blackburn how to take a penalty, calmly putting his team 3-0 up in the 51st minute following a handball infringement.

Arnett Gardens, however, would not go away and Strickland reduced the deficit in the 53rd and 62nd minutes to set up a tense finish.

Four minutes later though, Reid quickly restored Waterhouse's two-goal cushion with the goal of the match. He was set loose by a quick free-kick taken by Kevin Lamey, powered past Adonijah Cameron before rifling an unstoppable shot from an acute angle that whistled past McLeish in goal.

Waterhouse 4

Roberto Fletcher 27th, Brian Wollaston 46th, Irvino English 51st, Garfield Reid 66th

Arnett Gardens 2 Leon Strickland 53rd, 62nd