Sport

Pele's 'alright', says relative

By PAUL-ANDRE WALKER, Staff Reporter

Waterhouse's Weston Forrest makes a sliding tackle on Arnett Gardens' captain, Wayne Ellis, during their Wray and Nephew National Premier League match at Waterhouse Mini Stadium yesterday. Waterhouse won 1-0. - Carlington Wilmot

A DEAFENING SILENCE PERVADED the Drewsland Mini Stadium yesterday after a 70th minute clash of heads between Waterhouse's Roger Rodney and Arnett's Kevin 'Pele' Wilson left the Arnett striker motionless on the turf.

Tempers flared and the management staff of both teams became a little frantic as there was no ambulance on hand to take Wilson to the hospital.

Wilson, in the absence of emergency vehicles, had to be rushed to the Medical Associates hospital for treatment in the car of injured teammate Cornel Chin-Sue.

Rodney was also taken to hospital for treatment but from the outset it could be seen that Wilson came out worse.

Arnett's coach, Jerome Waite, was furious about the way things unfolded after the incident.

"The game shouldn't be played if there wasn't an ambulance there," he remonstrated.

Commenting on the nature of Wilson's injuries, Waite said.

"Pele might be out for a while because even if nothing is wrong with him he lost so much blood that he might suffer from dizzy spells."

Waite also went on to point to the actions of referee Courtney Campbell.

"After the incident the referee awarded 'a bounce ball', he didn't even consider it a foul. This is the sixth player (Arnett) that has been hurt on the field of play without anyone but us suffering the consequences (this season), the clash of heads occurred long after Pele had played the ball."

Relegation strugglers

Wilson had to undergo a head and a neck X-ray after which "He's alright," a family source told STAR SPORTS last night. "He knows where he is but he won't remember what happened for a while."

Waterhouse won the match 1-0 through a 21st minute goal from Kevin Lamey.

The result revived Waterhouse's semi-final hopes, and dented the distant chances of Arnett.

The Drewsland team stayed fourth while moving to 46 points, a point ahead of Rivoli whose first win over Harbour View, by a 2-1 margin on their Prison Oval turf, enabled the Spanish Town team to leapfrog Village. The Trelwany team remained stuck on 42 points after going down 1-0 at home to relegation strugglers Seba United.

Meanwhile, Tivoli Gardens are continuing to distance themselves from the struggle it to make it to the semi-finals, when they chalked up their 10th straight win in the Premier league - 2-0 over Constant Spring at Railway Oval - to advance to 57 points. That is 10 points clear of joint second Harbour View, and Portmore United.

The eighth place position that 'Spring (29) now hold mean they will now have to worry about staying in the league rather than making it to the semi-finals, with Reno (27) only two points behind them after their 1-0 victory over Star Cosmos at Drax Hall yesterday. Seba are a mere four points behind Reno on 23 points.

Harbour View's loss yesterday gives Portmore an opportunity to cement their second place position and get closer to Tivoli this afternoon, when they go head to head with Invaders in a 3:30 Prison Oval fixture. Portmore's fixture was postponed yesterday because of repairs being done to their home ground, Ferdie Neita Park.