Wilson volley nets win for Arnett

Nodley Wright, Gleaner Writer

Veteran striker Kevin Wilson on Wednesday night showed that there was still life in his legs and in a very mature Arnett Gardens team, when he fired them to a 1-0 win over defending Digicel Premier League champions Harbour View, in their third round match at Harbour View Mini Stadium.

Having collected just one point from their two previous games - the second of which they lost 3-0 at home to promoted Reno - the former champions were expected to struggle against a team which, at the time of the game, were leading the league.

Wilson, his 1995 Manning-Cup-winning teammate at Charlie Smith, Cornel Chin-Sue, and fellow veteran Gerald Neil, turned up in inspired mood. So too were the relatively young Rasheede Clarke and Ricardo Stern.

With the win, Arnett Gardens now sit in eighth place in the 12-team league on four points.

Coach Wayne Fairclough said the focus of his team was due largely to a meeting on Tuesday evening.

"This attitude that you saw from the team came out of a meeting that we had on Tuesday evening. It was a lot of introspection and soul searching," Fairclough said.

"I am very glad for this victory. It has been a very long time since I have seen Arnett Gardens play a game like this. I think that Harbour View played an excellent and a patient game, but we were there to absorb that pressure from them," he added.

Harbour View's Donovan Hayles, while disappointed with his team's loss, was pleased with their approach and the brand of football they played.

"Once the team is playing as it's playing now, I have a lot of positives to work with," said Hayles.

All not lost

He added: "Goalscoring will always be difficult at any level of the football, but we just have to keep working on it and be clinical. Tonight, we did not finish, but I would not think that all was lost ... . It was one of the better games that we have played and one that I am most pleased about in terms of performance. It is something we will build on."

Harbour View started the stronger and more cohesive of the two teams with Romario Campbell looking confident and sharp in midfield. Richard Edwards led by example and John-Ross Edwards launched a number of bullets goalwards, but was denied by poor luck and the sharpness of Julian McLeish in goal for Arnett Gardens.

After a number of missed opportunities by Harbour View, Arnett Gardens took the lead in the 23rd minute when Wilson volleyed home beautifully with his left foot.

It resulted from a move started on the left flank, with the impressive Kirk Ramsay picking out Chin-Sue in midfield with a throw. Chin-Sue collected on his chest and fed Neil, who passed wide right to Clarke. He motored down the right flank past Kimarlee Brissett and crossed invitingly for Wilson, who volleyed home sweetly.

Keeping up the fight

John-Ross Edwards continued to be a thorn in the Arnett Gardens defence and had another bullet blocked by McLeish.

The second half started in much the same way the first half did, with Harbour View getting the upper hand.

André Fagan added some life to their game, but their quality play was not helped by their finishing, as Kemar Petrekin and Christopher Harvey wasted headers when set up by John-Ross Edwards and Brissett, respectively.

Chin-Sue had some long-range efforts in the first half that went just wide from outside the box, while Wilson missed an opportunity to add a second. Edwards continued to fire away but McLeish kept him at bay.