JPL: Racing, Chapelton lead the way

After two rounds of matches in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL), Racing United and Chapleton Maroons are the top two clubs with maximum six points.

Racing are the leaders on goal difference after they clipped 10-man Waterhouse 2-1 at Drewsland Mini Stadium. Chapelton are second following a hard-fought 2-0 win over Harbour View at the Stadium East field yesterday.

A goal in each half from Marcos Rojas Filho (42nd) and Carlton Brown (54th) saw the Donovan Duckie-coached Chapelton to back-to-back wins, after victory over Tivoli on the opening day.

Duckie said although their early success has been a great boost to confidence, they want to keep a level head.

“This is about the hard work that everybody in the club has put in. The guys have put in a lot of work and it is starting to pay dividends,” he said.

Chapelton were the better team at the start, but it was Garth Stewart who had the first real opportunity for Harbour View, but his header from a corner was cleared off the line.

However, after the midway point of the first half, Chapleton started to looked the more dangerous, and three minutes before the interval, Filho latched on to a loose ball on top of the area and hit a deflected shot into the top corner.

The Brazilian came close to adding to Chapleton’s lead a few minutes later, but goalkeeper Najae Graham touched his low strike around the post for a corner.

Harbour View continued to create chances and Oquassa Chong slammed a good opportunity wide in first-half stoppage time, after having a brilliant shot saved by Graham.

Robinho Gordon thought he had increased Chapleton’s lead early in the half, but his headed goal was called back for offside.

However, there was no doubt about Carlton Brown’s strike from 30 yards out, which nestled into the top corner of Graham’s net.

Harbour View pushed forward to get back in the game and had their opponents on the defensive for most of the remainder of the match, but despite their dominance, they never really created any clear-cut chances.

Chapleton had another good chance after some good play from Philio on the left, but neither Zhaine Pinnock nor Levaughn Williams could take advantage despite multiple chances.

“In the early minutes we tried to impose ourselves on them and were very aggressive,” Duckie recollected. “We caught them in transition a few times and didn’t get on the scoresheet. But they had good control of the game also, but we were solid defensively.

“So we weathered the storm, and as the game progressed we got back in it and kudos to the guys, they worked hard and got two goals,” he said.

Harbour View coach Bjorn Thomas said they have some things to work on.

“We took about 15 minutes to start playing and in the end that cost us. We are not playing forward quickly enough, and we will go to the training ground and fix it. Every team will have a concern at this stage but it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” he commented.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com