Gayle pleased with W’House draw
HOSTS WATERHOUSE were left very disappointed last evening after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Costa Rican outfit CS Herediano in the first leg of their Scotiabank Concacaf League first-leg match at the National Stadium.
André Fletcher scored for the Marcel Gayle-coached Waterhouse in the third minute while Keyner Brown netted for Herediano in the 17th minute.
Gayle was somewhat pleased with his team’s efforts.
“I think we fought hard because we went 1-0 up early in the game, but it was just unfortunate that we couldn’t maintain that lead,” he said. “But kudos to the guys because I think that we performed well.
“It was our first time out in nearly two and half months, but we have much more work to be done before the second leg because Herediano is a good team.”
DREAM START
Waterhouse, last season’s runners-up in the Red Stripe Premier League, got off to a dream start when Fletcher gave them the lead in the third minute.
However, misjudgement from Waterhouse goalkeeper Akeen Chambers allowed Brown to head home from close range to level the scoring for the visitors 14 minutes later.
Brown came close to putting his team in front on the stroke of half-time, but his 25-yard free-kick clipped the outside of the post and went wide.
Herediano came out looking much the better side in the early exchanges of the second half.
However, they were kept at bay due to excellent goalkeeping from Chambers, who had to pull off a number of excellent saves to deny the Costa Ricans.
First, Chambers was at his very best to tip over Keysher Fuller’s powerful shot from 10 yards out while the speedy but skilful Brown’s 20-yard effort was well saved by the Waterhouse goalkeeper.
Fletcher, who had the Herediano defenders on their heels with his swift movement on and off the ball, should have increased Waterhouse’s lead 10 minutes later, but with goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado at his mercy, his weak shot from 10 yards out fell wide of the target.
However, the Costa Ricans missed a glorious chance to win the game in the 90th minute when striker Francisco Rodriguez’s powerful shot was cleared off the line by defender Shawn Lawes.