Western Bureau:

Former champions Wadadah FC partly placated their fans for their horrendous start to the 2009-10 NPL play-off tournament on Wednesday night, when they clipped leaders August Town 2-1 in their first-round return-leg fixture at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay.

The Wadadah team, which collected a mere one point from their three first-round games and were beginning to look totally out of place for one of the competition's two qualifying places, snatched victory on the back of goals by Oniel Selvyn and skipper Mark Williams. August Town's consolation goal came from Donavan Bernard.

Not giving up

"We are not giving up, once we have a chance of qualifying we will keep on fighting," said Wadadah's coach Daniel Rickettes. "Now that we have finally won a game, I am hoping that we will now make winning a habit for our next two games."

With two rounds of games to separate the four teams in terms of who will advance to the Digicel Premier League and who will return to confederation football next season, the current standings read as follows: Humble Lions - 8, August Town - 7, Wadadah - 4 and Brazil - 2.

The game at Jarrett Park, which got off to an enterprising start, saw both Wadadah and August Town getting and wasting good early chances. In the fifth minute, Wadadah's Damion Chambers fired straight at the goalkeeper from six yards, and four minutes later, Nicolas McCreath broke clear for August Town but fired wide.

Except for another late opportunity for Wadadah when the wily Stephen Irving got away before the goal but fired wide of the mark, the first half petered out to an uneventful end with the teams looking more cautious than creative.

After surviving a crisp attack from August Town when McCreath pierced the Wadadah defence but fired straight at goalkeeper Tristan Bernard in the 48th minute, Wadadah struck a minute later. Chambers dribbled into the penalty area and clipped a neat pass to Selvyn, who fired into the roof of the net, making the score 1-0.

Under siege

Finding themselves behind, August Town went into overdrive and had Wadadah under siege for long periods. However, a power outage, which lasted just over 15 minutes, slowed their momentum. On the resumption, missed chances by Nicholas Smith and McCreath compounded their frustration.

August Town finally made good on one of their attacks in the 73rd minute, when the alert Bernard won possession following a prolonged scramble before the Wadadah goal and drove his shot out of the reach of goalkeeper Bernard, making the score 1-1.

However, Wadadah were not to be denied as, in the 77th minute, they were awarded a penalty when the referee spotted an infringement and penalised August Town. Skipper Williams made no mistake from the spot, firing in to give Wadadah a 2-1 win.

"I am disappointed more about the quality of the officiating than the result," said August Town's coach Calvert Fitzgerald. "This is not the result we were hoping for but we will regroup and come again."