Portmore's Mario Swaby (No.9), congratulates Anthony Modeste (partly blocked) after Modeste scored a penalty to give Portmore United a 2-0 lead during their Digicel Premier League football match at Ferdie Neita Park in Portmore, St Catherine, on Sunday. Portmore United won 3-0. - Anthony Minott/Freelance Photographer

Portmore United pumped in three goals past Reno on Sunday in a Digicel Premier League match at Ferdie Neita Park to cut Harbour View's goal-difference advantage to plus-four.

The win pushed Portmore to 53 points, the same as Harbour View who clipped Rivoli United 1-0 the same night at Compound.

Reno remained at the foot of the standings on 21 points.

Portmore's coach Linval Dixon, though happy with the win and the well-needed three points, thought his team should have won by a wider margin."

"We got some chances ... the scoreline should be a wider margin. We never capitalised on some of them but, at the same time, we scored three goals and that is a plus for us," Dixon said.

"When we get teams (at the bottom of the table) we need to put them away. We got a number of clear-cut chances and we didn't put them away."

"We need to just continue winning to keep the pressure on the teams behind us."

Portmore played a somewhat ordinary first half but still found a way to score.

Ricardo Cousins gave Portmore the lead in the 20th minute.

Steven Morrissey should have doubled the lead 10 minutes later but he headed the ball straight at goalie Kingsley James from close range.

Purposeful

Portmore came out more purposeful in attack in the second half and were rewarded at the 64th minute when Mario Swaby was cut down in the box by Reno defender Omar Johnson.

Swaby got the crowd excited when he flicked the ball over Johnson's head, but the latter slapped him and the referee awarded a penalty. Captain Anthony Modeste calmly struck home the spot kick for a 2-0 lead.

Reno tried to get back into the game but lacked composure in the attacking third, either losing possession or kicking wide of the mark. Their best chance came from captain Fabian Blake, who forced goalkeeper Shawn Sawyers to save his shot from just outside the 18-yard. box.

Portmore countered deadly in the 77th minute when Morrissey buried a rebound in the back of the net to make it 3-0. The striker cleaned up after Bryan Bayliss' firm shot was spilled by goalie James in the path of Morrissey, who made no mistake from eight yards.

Reno's coach, Wendell Downswell, thought his team's below par second-half performance was the reason why they lost the match.

"We were quite competitive for the first 30-35 minutes in the game. It was just unfortunate that we gave up a goal just when we were almost gaining the ascendancy in terms of territorial dominance," coach Downswell said.

He added that his team didn't play as well in the second half as they did in the first half.