Second-half goals knock down brave St Georges

Nodley Wright, Gleaner Writer

St Georges Sports Club on Sunday night went down 0-2 to Harbour View in the Digicel Premier League, but showed enough heart, application and fight to suggest that they could work their way from the foot of the table.

Romario Campbell in the 60th minute and Andre Fagan in the 90th provided the goals for Harbour View, but the game was by no means a one-way or easy street for Harbour View, who must have been thankful for the mistakes which made their win easier.

Former Harbour View rep-resentative and current St Georges captain, Jermaine Taylor, let down his team in the 10 minutes when he needlessly floored John-Ross Edwards with a strong forearm. Referee Lewin Purser had no hesitation in issuing a straight red card.

Despite their numerical advantage, Harbour View, for most of the game, were unable to dominate the visitors and at times only looked marginally better as the visitors refused to throw in the towel. The hard-running Damion Harwood, Denroy Dennis and the skilful Leon Irving created problems for the Harbour View team. Irving, in particular, was a target for fouls.

Teasing cross

Campbell looked threatening for Harbour View and just failed to connect with a teasing cross from captain Richard Edwards in the 29th minute. Nine minutes later he had a solid shot from distance just wide.

Harwood, more known for his heading ability than shooting, betrayed his weakness in the 41st minute when a good combination between himself and Dennis ended with him shooting wide of goal from just about the 18-yard box, when he should have at least forced a save from goalkeeper Michard Barrett.

Both teams continued to trade attacks in the second half with Kemar Lawrence forcing a smart save from St Georges' Randall Huie in the 46th minute. In one of his last acts of the game, Harwood delayed pulling the trigger and lost the opportunity, after being set up nicely by Irving.

St Georges introduced Romeo Parkes for Harwood and Delroy James, who scored in their 1-0 win over Boys' Town, for Denroy Dennis. But it was Harbour View who would find the back of the net.

DPL debut

Jamaica Under-17 representative, Kemar A. Lawrence, in his DPL debut, found Fagan down the left flank with a good throw. The speedy Fagan was shepherded by Ricardo Taylor, who allowed him to get the cross in from the left. His low cross was met sweetly by Campbell, who fired home one time with the left foot.

Another mistake by Ricardo Taylor contributed to Harbour View's second goal. The central defender backed off substitute Ranique Muir, who turned him and fired onto the crossbar. The ball rebounded into play and Fagan was only too happy to slot home.

"I am still not too pleased. Yes we can possess the ball and we did do that, but it is where and the kind of penetration that we have," said an honest Harbour View coach, Donovan Hayles, at the end of the game. "Those are the two areas I am mainly concerned about. We made some penetration yes, but not enough based on the one-man advantage."

Coach Geoffrey Maxwell felt that his St Georges team played with a lot of heart, but gifted two goals to Harbour View.

"Overall it was a spirited performance, but it was two given goals and I am not saying Harbour View should not have won. They should have won about 5-1," a disappointed Maxwell said.