Harbour View hunting warm-up matches
Published:Friday | October 13, 2023 | 12:11 AM
WITH 10 days of inactivity before the first leg of their semi-final clash with local rivals Cavalier in the Concacaf Caribbean Cup, Ludlow Bernard, head coach of two-time champions Harbour View, says he is pressed for time getting competitive practice matches for his team.
“I’m a bit disappointed with the availability of practice games. A number of teams with which we were communicating aren’t available, and it is just difficult for us. What makes matters worse is that we won’t be playing for the first two weeks of the local Premier League,” he stated.
Harbour View ended Group B of the competition with seven points, two behind group winners SV Robinhood of Suriname while Cavalier won Group A with 10 points.
The Harbour View head coach says they have not given up hope and in the remaining days prior to the first leg of the semis on October 24 at Sabina Park, he will be reaching out to other teams in a bid to secure warm-up games.
“We still have another week, so we are going to try and encourage some other teams to face off with us in practice. It’s very important as what has been happening is we have had a core of roughly 14 to 15 players who have been competitive in the four games. However, there are another eight to nine players who were inactive, and on Wednesday when we played against Molynes United, I inserted a number of them, and they were very slow off the mark,” Bernard said.
Harbour View won the tournament back in 2004 and 2007, and Bernard believes that winning the title a third time would be a big boost for the club.
“It would be a big boost for us as Harbour View have not been on the international front for quite a while, and when we were, a lot of positive things happened. I always advocate for opportunities for the players as the football structure in Jamaica isn’t rewarding for our players and if opportunities come along, I would certainly encourage them to take advantage of it,” Bernard said.
He said that having two local clubs in the semi-final stages of the competition is also a positive for Jamaican football and believes that Jamaica Premier League teams will be gunning for the available slots next season.
“It’s a good achievement for both teams for this newly renovated competition, and I’m sure the other teams in the Premier League will be energised to go after these four slots come next season,” Bernard added.