Racing United Rally From Three Down to Hold Portmore 3-3 in JPL Quarter-final Opener

Racing United produced a major second-half turnaround to finish 3-3 with Portmore United in Sunday’s first leg of their Jamaica Premier League quarter-final at the National Stadium, after trailing by three goals.

Portmore took charge early through Ronaldo Robinson, who scored in the fifth and ninth minutes to hand his team a 2-0 lead by half-time. Peter McGregor then added another shortly after the restart to put Portmore 3-0 in front.

Racing finally found life in the 59th minute when Tajay Grant got on the scoresheet from close range. With 10 minutes left, Nickyle Ellis narrowed the gap to 3-2, and Damorney Hutchinson completed the recovery three minutes from time.

After the match, Racing coach Anthony Patrick said his side was second best at the start. “We started a bit flat,” he said. “We were jogging to the ball (first half) and Portmore were sprinting. So they always had a foot or two in front of us.” He added: “At the break we talked about it and hence, you saw the changes [IN THE] second half and it made a difference. So we got it together as quickly as possible in the second half and got back in the game.”

The opening goal came when McGregor worked space down the right and sent a pass into Robinson, who controlled well before finishing beyond Aaron Enill. Moments later, Robinson struck again from about 12 yards after sustained Portmore pressure unsettled Racing’s back line.

Grant almost pulled one back in the 22nd minute after taking the ball from goalkeeper Daniel Russell near the post, but from a tight angle he found the side netting. Portmore dropped deeper after going two up, while Racing struggled to create clear chances, though Ellis rattled the post with a free kick on 45 minutes.

Portmore nearly stretched their lead further at the start of the second half when both McGregor and Tarick Ximines dragged efforts wide. The third goal did arrive in the 51st minute, with McGregor rising at the back post to head in from a corner.

Racing kept pressing and began their climb back when an Ellis effort from outside the area ran through for Grant to convert in the 59th minute. Ellis then made room in the box and beat Russell to make it 3-2. With three minutes remaining, Hutchinson chased a ball over the top, reached it ahead of Russell and a recovering defender, and rolled into an empty net. Portmore coach Rodolph Austin said, “We played well in the first half. We went 3-0 up and then we just switched off. We allowed them to score an easy goal and they just grew in confidence.” He added, “It's not acceptable to see the type of goals we conceded. It's not in our DNA, but it's football.”