Nodley Wright | Jamaica Gleaner
Payback will be on the mind of leaders Waterhouse when they play away to fourth-place Harbour View this evening in one of five competitive matches in the Red Stripe Premier League.
Harbour View defeated the title favourites 2-1 at the Waterhouse Mini-Stadium in their first of two losses for the season and would be keen to get one more over the league leaders. Harbour View coach Andrew Hines is, however, expecting a backlash.
“We are expecting them to come hard,” the man who was once an uncompromising defender for Harbour View said of his opponents.
He added: “Every time you drop a point or three the resolve is to get back those points. We got three points at their house so the resolve should be greater on their part.”
Waterhouse’s assistant coach Marcel Gayle tried to remain as cool as possible as he spoke about this matchup.
“We are not saying revenge but the points are there to take and we will take them.
“It is a brand new round. The first round is behind us and we have to take care of business this time around. They are a quality team, with a rich history and have won on a number of occasions, but we are ready,” he said confidently.
Leading up to their first encounter Waterhouse looked like blowing everyone out of the water, but this time around they look more vulnerable as they have been held to a draw at home by Sporting Central, lost away to defending champions Montego Bay United, come from behind to beat Barbican at home and again had to came from behind to draw with Humble Lion at home. These results have convinced Hines that they could claim all three points.
On the way back up
“The time could the right time for us. As you can see, we are within striking distance of the top. If you look at the last few games they have dropped points so they could be on a lull,” Hines outlined.
Gayle, on the other hand, believes his team are on the way back up.
“That run of form is because we were a bit fatigued but we are getting over that and will perform better. We had a good win in the Jackie Bell Knock Out on Thursday and everyone is fit and ready right now. Jermaine Anderson is scoring again, Tramaine Stewart is fine, Romario Campbell set up one of our goals on Thursday and Richard McCallum is back from suspension, so we should be at full strength,” Gayle said.
Harbour View, for their part will be looking to Jermie Lynch and John-Ross Edwards to lift them.
“Jermie has been instrumental for us this season not only in scoring, but how he has approached the game with maturity and has played a leadership role. He has an excellent understanding with Ranique Muir and McKaully Tulloch and I expect that to continue,” Hines offered.