An unlikely hero
Mount Pleasant goalkeeper instrumental in sending champions back to the final
ON SUNDAY, Devonte Campbell grabbed the headlines with a double strike for defending champions Mount Pleasant in their 2-1 win over Waterhouse, for a 3-2 aggregate win in their two-leg semifinal tie at Sabina Park.
However, the unsung hero on the night was goalkeeper, Shaquan Davis, who pulled off a
nd string of impressive saves to keep the St Ann team alive throughout the match.
The 23-year-old first denied Andre Fletcher early in the match, but his save against the league’s leading scorer Javane Bryan was even more breathtaking, pushing a low precise strike for a corner.
Then late in the second half, with the team looking to see out the match, the shotstopper denied Fletcher twice, in one instance from six yards, and then in another from a well-taken free kick.
Although Davis was beaten by a Keith Simpson header in added time, his heroics saw Mount Pleasant across the line.
Coached Theodore Whitmore hailed the contribution of his ever-improving goalkeeper on the night.
“That is what he (Davis) is between the sticks for, to make saves,” Whitmore said. “But game by game Davis keeps improving.”
Davis said these are t he types of performances he expects from himself, with the work he puts in daily.
“My performance was expected. I have been putting in the work day in, day out. So I try to keep working to keep improving each training session and every day,” he said.
“It’s a good feeling to be back in the final. We have trained for nine months to acheive this but we know there is more work to do, and we are doing the work.”
Withmore also thought their game plan execution on the night was on point.
“What we wanted, we achieved, in terms of scoring first. If you look at the quarterfinals, we have yet to see Waterhouse come from a goal down and this afternoon (Sunday) we stuck to our objectives and achieved them,” he said.
“We got a red card but we stayed in the game, made adjustments and it bore fruit for us and now we are in the final,” he said.