Village ride luck to sink Harbour View

Nodley Wright, Gleaner Writer

Numerous missed opportunities and a Dino Williams' 38th-minute strike condemned defending cham-pions Harbour View to defeat in the Digicel Premier League, at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium on Sunday night.

With the loss, Harbour View slipped to sixth in the overall standings as they were overtaken by Boys' Town and Sporting Central Academy, who played to a 1-1 draw, while Village United remained in 10th position, but increased the gap between themselves and Humble Lion to eight points.

Sunday's result also saw Harbour View losing ground in terms of points in the race for a place in the second end-of-round final, with four games to go in the round.

Village United started out stronger and, as they took the action to the home team, the Harbour View players appeared unsure, especially in the defensive area.

Goalkeeper Michard Barrett did not have one of his better games and could have given away a goal as early as the fifth minute, when an attempted clearance fell to Graeme Green in the six-yard box. Luckily for him, the Village United player could not convert.

Many chances to score

Despite Village's better play in the first half, Harbour View still managed to create chances to score. André Steele demonstrated the ability to cut through the Village defensive line, but enjoyed dismissing them so much that he did it repeatedly instead of shooting or passing.

Village could have opened the scoring in the 15th minute when a solid drive from Lance Laing was fumbled by goalkeeper Barrett. Shavar Campbell followed up with little commitment and failed to capitalise.

Two minutes later, Harbour View's Kemeel Wolfe steered wide of an open goal from just about the 18-yard box.

Harbour View got another great chance when Jermaine Hue, who played below his usually high standard and was eventually substituted at half-time due to injury, set Rafeik Thomas with a lovely back-heeled pass. However, the latter fired wide.

Williams fired Village in the lead when a pass from Campbell picked him out perfectly on the left. He outpaced his challenger and toed it past Barrett at his near post.

The second half was almost one-way traffic for Harbour View as they launched raid after raid at the Village goal. But brilliant goalkeeping by Kemar Llewellyn and poor shooting let them down.

They should have drawn level in the 49th minute from the penalty spot, but substitute Marcelino Blackburn's effort was kept out by Llewellyn.

Harbour View's introduction of Kimorlee Brissett improved their game as he patrolled the left flank. It was not all Harbour View in the second half though, as Williams continued to be a threat - both in the air and on the ground.

Happy with win

As the game wound down, Village United were defending desperately, as Wolfe had a close-range blast saved, Richard Edwards' blast from distance was well-saved and, just two minutes before regulation time, Ranique Muir missed a free header from inside the six-yard box.

Village United's Brazilian coach, Nedeir dos Santos, was happy with the win, but felt luck was on their side in the second half.

"It is very good to have two wins in a row away from home. We did very well in the first half. The second half was really complicated. They came all over our midfield and pressured us, but, fortunately, we were able to keep the result," he said.

"Football is like that. In my first match against Benfica, we were supposed to have won the game, but we lost. Sometimes, you do not perform as well as you should, and you get the result and that is luck. In the second half, we were lucky," dos Santos said.

Harbour View's Donovan Hayles said the loss was all down to his players' inability to score.

"We could not even score a penalty, so we could not win the game. If you cannot even score a penalty, and to get the ball in the back of the net, you need some gumption. The players are not showing that they have the confidence to put the ball in the back of the net. We are not going to panic and will keep working with what we have," a frustrated, but hopeful Hayles said.