Gareth Davis, Gleaner Writer

PORT ANTONIO:

A 21ST-MINUTE penalty by Daniel Shaw and a goal in the 50th from Damion Harwood gave St Georges a 2-1 victory over Reno, for whom Fabian Blake scored, in their Digicel Premier League game yesterday at Lynch Park in Buff Bay.

Georges attacked early through Shaw, Harwood, Denroy Dennis and Omar Henderson, but their efforts were thwarted by defenders Omar Dallas, Ryan Gayle and Omar Johnson.

Long passes

Halfway through the first stanza, Reno settled down and started to make some long passes along the flanks as Nyron Davis, Obrian Woodbine, Renorio Downswell and Gary McIntosh got into the action. However, captain Ricardo Taylor, Dwayne Holmes, Keon Clunis and Barrington James stood firm for Georges in defence.

After enjoying the majority of offensive play, Georges went ahead in the 21st minute when Dennis was brought down by goalkeeper Gavin Barrett. Shaw took the spot kick and fired a powerful right-footer into the roof of the net for a 1-0 lead.

In the second half, Georges' Dennis was replaced by Ricardo Watson while Gayle was replaced by Keneil Moodie as Reno attempted to draw level. But the substitution worked better for Georges as a Watson pass found Omar Henderson who made a cross from the right flank and found Harwood and he was on target, between three defenders, to give his side a 2-0 lead.

Reno managed to pull one back in the 86th minute from a corner which found the boot of Blake.

Team praises

Winning coach Jeffrey Maxwell praised his team's effort and said it was starting to play as a unit.

"It was a team effort, which brought us this victory," Maxwell said. "It is a young team which gets better each passing game."

Reno's coach, Wendell Downswell, though disappointed with the loss, said his side played well but failed to capitalise on scoring opportunities.

"We now have to go back to the drawing board and will be gunning for all three points on Sunday against Meadhaven," Downswell said.