Congratulations to the new Technical Staff led by Ricardo ‘Bibi’ Gardner, Fabian ‘Koje’ Taylor and Manager, Oneil ‘Bigga’ Smith and the entire 2017 squad on winning their first game by 1-0 over Cavalier FC at the Stadium East complex.
Veteran Sean Fraser converted a 75th-minute penalty to give Harbour View an unlikely victory over a wasteful Cavalier Soccer Club in their Red Stripe Premier League match at the Stadium East field yesterday.
Harbour View, who should have been at least four goals down before referee Weston Costley ruled handball in the box on George Pinnock, were extremely lucky to pick up maximum points following a poor display.
Former national player Fraser went straight down the middle for his first goal of the season after goalkeeper Peter Harrison committed himself to his right.
Video courtesy of HVFC fan, Mikey Spice
The “Stars of the East”, who drew 1-1 with Montego Bay United last week, were played off the park, but collected three valuable points, and Coach Ricardo Gardner was grateful.
“It’s good to get the three points, but I think we have a lot of work to do still on the field. We didn’t show our class against a very young Cavalier team,” reasoned Gardner.
“No disrespect to Cavalier; they came out and played, moved the ball, but at the end of the day it was good to get three points,” he noted.
“Credit to Cavalier for the chances they have created, but sometimes it is good to get ugly wins like what we did today, so we just have to go back on the training ground and continue to work,” Gardner added.
Harbour View now move to four points, the same as The University of the West Indies (UWI), who whipped Humble Lion 3-1, and Reno, who battled to a 1-1 draw with Waterhouse FC. Portmore United, following their 4-0 hammering of new boy Sandals South Coast, are provisionally top of the league.
Cavalier, who lost to 10-man Portmore United last week, turned in a spirited performance and should have notched their first win since returning to top-flight football. But the likes of Chevonne Marsh, Alex Marshall and Nicholas Anderson, although terrorising the Harbour View back line, wasted several good goalscoring opportunities.
Head Coach Rudolph Speid was clearly a disappointed man after watching his young team dominate Harbour View but leave empty-handed to remain pointless after two games.
“I thought the score could have been five or anything just like the game we played before,” lamented Speid.
He continued: “But the reason why this one stings is that we got at least two penalties in the second half; everybody in the stadium saw them except the referee and then he called one that only him alone in the stadium saw. The ball clearly hit the player in his private parts and his linesman was gesticulating to him to come over and he ignored him and call the penalty.
“The referee decided the game, but saying that, this game should not have been one that he decided because we did get a lot of chances with quality players and didn’t put them away,” he added.
Teams:
Cavalier SC — Peter Harrison, George Pinnock (Vasbert Harry 76th), Dejanni Isaacs (Shevan James 64th), Lastson Reid, Rushawn Plummer, Kemar Shaw, Omar Walcott, Oshane Roberts, Chevonne Marsh, Nicholas Hamilton (Nickoy Christian 67th), Alex Marshall
Subs not used: David Mitchell, Michael Spence, Orlando Brown
Booked: Pinnock (74th)
Harbour View — Joel Johnson, Christopher Harvey, Nicholas Beckett, Rosario Harriott, Ryan Wellington, Kimarley Fray, Sheldon McKoy, Jelani Nicholson (Ajeanie Talbott 89th), Sean Fraser, Jaleel Chamberlain (Michael Lutus 59th), Thorn Simpson (Richard Anderson 77th).
Subs not used: John Wilson, Damarley Oliver, Odaine Samuels, Cleon Pryce, Michael Lutus
Booked: Talbott (90th)
Referee: Weston Costley
Assistant Referees: Richard Washington, Melvin Reid
Fourth Official: Doyen Tummings
Match Commissary: Garfield McDonald
Source: The Jamaica Observer