Harbour View find lush surface to their liking

• East Kingston team spank MBUFC at Montego Bay Stadium

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

ON A surface coach Donavan Hayles found much to his liking, former champions Harbour View, behind goals from Fabian Taylor and Donovan Edwards, defeated Montego Bay United FC (MBUFC) 2-0 in their fourth round National Premier League (NPL) fixture at the Montego Bay Stadium in St James on Sunday.

"It is impossible to play badly on a surface like this ... it suited our style of play very much," said Hayles, as he admired the lush playing surface at the 8,000-seater stadium.

"While we are happy with the two goals we got today, I believe with better finishing we could have gotten a few more," he added.

For MBUFC's coach, Pastor Hugh Solomon, whose team is yet to win a game, barring points awarded in the boardroom, was very disappointed, arguing that his players failed to reproduce what they did in practice and, as consequence, looked awful in their less-than-acceptable performance.

"We played badly today ... it was a really poor performance and the coaching staff is really unhappy with the lack of purpose we saw out there," said Solomon.

"We will just have to find a way to put pressure on the team to perform," he added.

In a game in which wily winger Troy Reid and goalkeeper Jacomeno Barrett showed full commitment for Montego Bay, Harbour View just missed taking the lead after two minutes. Taylor found himself with a clear shot from six yards, but was denied by a fine save by Barrett.

MoBay United countered and got back-to-back chances in the fourth and 10th minutes. First, Wilfred Smith got a clean break but fired wide. Mario Samuels fired a close range rebound over the crossbar with the goalkeeper at his mercy.

On a break down the left flank in the 13th minute, Harbour View won a throw. The ball was thrown to Kemeel Wolfe whose flashing header was blocked by the goalkeeper. However, the ball bounced into the path of Taylor, who fired home, making the score 1-0.

Harbour View had the better of the action leading into the half-time break, but a combination of faulty shooting and good goalkeeping prevented them from adding to their first-half tally.

The second half started with MBUFC squandering a chance almost immediately. Dwayne Ambusley pounced on a cross before goal, but flicked his shot straight at the goalkeeper who was well positioned at the far post.

Midway the half, Harbour View wasted a glorious chance. Richard Edwards took a neat cross before goal but miskicked, much to the disgust of his teammates who had to cut short their premature celebrations.

In the 76th minute, Harbour View benefited from a rare Barrett error to score again.

Edwards broke away on the right side and fired a speculative shot, which flew between the goalkeeper's legs and crashed into the back of the net, making the final score 2-0.