Cavalier FC march past Montego Bay United into fourth straight JPL final

Rudolph Speid strengthened one of the most decorated coaching records in local football on Wednesday, as Cavalier FC broke new ground by qualifying for a fourth consecutive Wray & Nephew Jamaica Premier League final. Still, the long-serving coach said the attention belongs to the young squad that again found a way through a difficult assignment.

Cavalier, winners of the last two JPL titles, entered the second leg trailing Montego Bay United 1-0 from the opening match of the semi-final. They wiped out that disadvantage and eventually won 2-0 after extra time, taking the tie 2-1 on aggregate.

Kimarly Scott, who was part of Excelsior High School's Manning Cup-winning team, pulled Cavalier level in the 54th minute when he headed in from a corner. The same route produced the decisive goal in the first half of extra time, with the 18-year-old again climbing above the defence to convert another corner.

The result represented a sharp response from Speid's team, which had managed only one attempt on goal in the first leg while allowing MBU close to 70 per cent of the ball. Speid, who is also serving as interim head coach of the Reggae Boyz, said Cavalier's more controlled defensive plan was no accident.

“The truth is that me and the captain [Jeovanni Laing] have some long arguments about his role in this particular team and what he’s supposed to do. We decided that near to the play-offs that we’re going to clean up the defensive line and you can see the mark improvement,” Speid said.

“We never thought we were out of it, we just thought that we had to win differently and we always try [to] find a way and we thought this was one of the ways that we could win. If you notice, set plays were getting regular goals for us near the end of the season and it just carried on.”

Cavalier's latest run comes after a season in which many doubted whether the champions could stay in contention. The club had dropped as low as eighth in the standings in February and was reshaping a squad that had lost 19 players, among them Reggae Boyz Richard King, Dwayne Atkinson and Jalmaro Calvin.

The team also exited the Concacaf Caribbean Cup at the group stage last year despite entering as defending champions. Cavalier later recovered enough ground to finish sixth and reach the play-offs, though that was their lowest league position since the 2017/2018 season, when they returned to the JPL.

Speid, a three-time JPL-winning coach, said outside criticism has followed him before, but he believes this group has answered with character.

“Everybody say I can’t coach, so that’s not new,” he said. “But about the club, everybody can know that we have a winning mentality, we choose the right players and the right players want to fight for the badge every single day and that’s what we’re all about.”

“The truth is, we are a family; everybody loves each other and we work together. When we lose, we lose together — when we win, we win together. Even from our training, we develop a winning mentality and I think that is what carried us over the line.”

By reaching the final, Cavalier also guaranteed a fourth straight appearance in this year's Caribbean Cup, a target Speid said mattered deeply after last season's disappointment.

“This was one of our aims to go back into the Caribbean Cup. Last year we didn’t do so well, we were really ashamed of our performance last year so were eager to get back there this year and this carries us back there automatically so we’re grateful.”

Cavalier will face Portmore United in Sunday's championship match.

For Montego Bay United, the defeat was a painful finish to a campaign in which they had been widely viewed as title favourites after leading the regular-season table for more than six months. Head coach Xavier Gilbert said he was surprised by what his players produced in the second leg.

“We were a little bit reckless, naïve on some occasions and it’s difficult for me to explain how some of the things unfolded because that certainly wasn’t the game plan,” he said. “Sometimes the attitude and the body language, I just didn’t like it and I’m not pleased with the way we performed. We tried in the end but we just couldn’t find that one goal.”

“We just didn’t execute. We were far from what we have shown all season. This just wasn’t us and we just had a poor showing,” Gilbert added.

MBU will turn their attention to the third-place play-off, where they are scheduled to meet Mount Pleasant Football Academy on Sunday with a CFU Club Shield berth at stake.