Substitute Andre Steele blasted in the late winner as Harbour View carved out a 2-1 beating of 10-man Boys’ Town in the semi-final of the Claro/Jackie Bell Knockout at the Compound on Sunday.
Schoolboy Jamiel Hardware had given the Boys’ Town team the lead early in the game before Harbour View’s Kemeel Wolfe pulled his team level just before the half-time interval.
Harbour View will face Arnett Gardens in the final after the latter edged Waterhouse 1-0 in the opening match of the double-header.
Harbour View coach Donavan Hayes said his team’s improved showing in the second half allowed them to break the rigid resistance of the Red Brigade.
“I gave them a bit of a tongue-lashing at the break and they really picked it up in the second half and you could really see that we created more chances. The first half we were flat and Boys’ Town pressured us and gave us a tough time, which is something we expect whenever we play them, but (in the) second half we were much more dominant,” he said.
The ‘Stars of the East’ were pushed on the back-foot early when Hardware pounced on a loose ball in the box and watched as his miscued effort looped beyond the outstretched palms of goalkeeper Michaud Barrett in the third minute of play.
Apparently stunned by the goal, Harbour View constantly gave the ball away and had to defend countless early attacks from the marauding Collie Smith Drive-based team.
In the 42nd minute, Harbour View were given a life-line when indecisive Boys’ Town defending allowed Wolfe’s close range finish after tidy work from Rafeik Thomas.
The second half was a more bruising affair as both teams fought desperately and at times, wildly, for the go-ahead goal. Wolfe had a second half effort disallowed for suspicion of off-side, before the game took an ugly turn in the 74th minute when Boys’ Town player Anthony Bennett was sent packing after getting a second yellow card for a hand-slapping challenge on Kimorllie Brissett.
Harbour View’s midfield conductor Jermaine Hue, who had several verbal clashes with opposing player Daemon Benjamin, became more influential as space opened up, but the home team failed to make full use of the one-man advantage.
Hue had the last laugh in the 89th minute when he split the Boys’ Town defence with an incisive pass which allowed Steele to cannon a right-footer past”keeper Philmore Crumbie.
Boys’ Town coach Andrew Price chided his team’s inefficiency in front of goal and blamed indiscipline as the main reason for the flurry of yellow cards handed out in the second half.
“We had several opportunities to go further ahead in the first half and we missed them. I can’t fault the overall effort, but we need to be more clinical in front of goal, otherwise, missed chances will come back to haunt us,” he said.