Harbour View, Portmore square off in DPL feature

Nodley Wright, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Defending champions Harbour View could be fancying their chances of climbing further up the table when they meet end of second round winners Portmore United in one of six crucial Digicel Premier League clashes today.

Fielding their strongest team in months, Harbour View dominated Arnett Gardens on Wednesday last on their way to a 1-0 win following up on an away draw with the increasingly competitive St Georges and a 2-0 win over Humble Lion. While the scoreline itself was not impressive what caught the eye about the performance of the defending champions was the manner in which they dominated their opponents.

Coach Donovan Hayles said that with an improvement in their finishing they could continue their upward climb.

Poor finishing

"We were solid in defence with the partnership of Dicoy Williams and Montrose Phinn looking very good. In midfield we were also solid and we created quite a few chances without being able to finish so the finishing is an area of concern for us, but we will continue to work on it and once we get it right we will be okay," Hayles said ahead of today's game.

Portmore United on the other hand have not looked very solid since copping the end of first round title. They beat Reno 2-1 but were stopped 0-2 at home by the then relegation-threatened Village United. Their next match provided them with an opportunity to rebound in style, but they only managed a 1-0 win over the fast-falling Benfica.

The above results by Portmore will give hope to the Harbour View team despite the fact that their forwards have been struggling to find the back of the net. What will also go against Portmore is the absence of their influential captain, Mario Swaby, who will be suspended. In Swaby's absence Portmore will look to Ricardo Cousins, Eric Vernan, the competition's joint leading scorer Steven Morrissey and Adrian Reid for leadership. The fit-again Alanzo Adlam could also feature.

Andre Steele is finally showing the maturity required for him to be a success in the league and in if he reports in his best form it will be difficult to match Harbour View's midfield including him, Marcelino Blackburn, the magical Jermaine Hue and anchored by Richard Edwards.

Both Boys' Town and Arnett Gardens will be fighting hard to avoid successive losses when they meet in the Collie Smith derby. Boys' Town are the better placed of the two teams but they have come up second best to Arnett Gardens in their two previous meetings.

St Georges have been steadily closing the gap on the teams in the bottom half of the table and should be favoured to get a positive result against Benfica and ease themselves off the bottom of the table for the first time this season.

Village United have been on fire since the third round with wins over Portmore United and Waterhouse inspired by the transfer of the second window so far Leon Irving, who made the move from St Georges. If Village are able to get the better of Tivoli Gardens away from home, then relegation fears would almost certainly be banished - for this season.

Things have not looked good for Humble Lion since the start of the third round in which they have lost all three matches so far. Pride and bragging rights could spur them to get a positive result in the Clarendon derby. Sporting Central were the team of the second round but like fellow end of second round finalists, Portmore United, they have not yet found their footing for the third round.

• Today's games:

1. 3:30 p.m.: Humble Lion vs Sporting Central - Effortville CommunityCentre
   
2. 4 p.m.: Waterhouse vs Reno - Drewsland Stadium
   
3. 5 p.m.: Tivoli Gardens vs Village United - Edward Seaga Complex
   
4. 6 p.m.: Arnett Gardens vs Boys Town - Anthony Spaulding Complex
   
5. 6:30 p.m.: Portmore United vs Harbour View - Ferdie Neita Park
   
6. 6:30 p.m.: St Georges vs Benfica - Lynch Park