Waterhouse's Irvino English.

Richard Bryan, Freelance Writer

Reno smothered Water-house's spirited run in round two with a creditable come-from-behind 1-1 draw at St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) on Thursday.

Irvino English, perhaps unlucky not to have been the match winner, latched on to a defensive error on the edge of the 18-yard area and fired past teenage goalkeeper Lamart McIntosh in the 26th minute.

Reno, undaunted, replied quickly when Obrien 'Beckham' Wood-bine, promoted to midfield from his customary overlapping role, expertly scored the afternoon's best goal, a cracker that flew past Richard McCallum from almost 25 yards in the 28th minute.

The two other chances that might have made the difference were English's 20-yard free-kick, which hit the cross-bar towards the end of the first half, while for Reno, Nicholi Finlayson's effort from a similar distance in the second half required an acrobatic save from McCallum.

Waterhouse in pole position in this round, stayed in third position overall on 24 points, while Reno remained in the thick of the mid-tier teams on 18.

Neither deserved to lose as the contest was hard, the pace strong throughout and in the end, the coaches seemed settled on the one point gained.

Wayne Fairclough, whose return seemed to have provided tonic for Waterhouse's resurgence, said: "We're disappointed but also thankful for the point. It was a good morale-boosting draw."

Downswell argued that a point against the form team at this time was more than welcome.

He also paid kudos to the defensive performance by both teams, with the forwards kept in check without too many card scares.

In fact, only Roger 'Big Head' Rodney was issued with a yellow card by referee Raymond Bogle after he tugged across Ricardo Scott's chest while the two engaged in a frantic foot race.

Kevin Lamey was introduced midway the second half, but was tightly marked by Patrick Graham in tandem with Dwayne 'Robot' Williams.

Scores