Harbour View’s interim head coach, Ludlow Bernard, was a relieved man after his reign started with a nervous-looking 2-0 win over lowly Barbican FC in the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) match at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium on Sunday.
The ‘Stars of the East’ held a comfortable lead at the half-time break thanks to goals from Kevaughn Frater in the sixth minute and McKaully Tulloch in the 21st.
They appeared out of gas in the second half and endured a few anxious moments as the visitors, desperately fighting to get back into the game, gained some momentum.
Harbour View remain in sixth place with 37 points from 25 matches, while cellar team Barbican have 21 points from 26 outings.
It was Harbour View’s first win in seven matches and stopped a three-game losing slide, which led to then coach Andrew Hines losing the senior team job.
After the 2-7 trouncing picked up at the hands of Waterhouse FC last time out, getting three points against Barbican was a much-needed tonic for a unit short on confidence.
“Coming off a poor result from the last game we really had to rebound. Regardless of how it was done the important thing for us was to get three points,” Bernard said.
“We are going to have to focus on the next game, which is couple days away,” he added, referring to tomorrow’s rescheduled home fixture against Sporting Central FC.
That game, originally to be played almost two weeks ago, was called off prematurely due to a power outage with Harbour View leading 1-0.
In the meantime, Marvin Tate, the coach of Barbican FC, said basic mistakes in defence and faulty shooting up front have been the main shortcomings of his team.
He said getting over last week’s draining 2-3 loss to Waterhouse in the Jackie Bell Knockout final was also a challenge.
“We have been conceding some very simple goals and they end up haunting us. It was a bit difficult lifting the guys after the performance on Thursday. I think we ended up the stronger team and we got chances we didn’t put away. We just have to regroup and come again,” Tate said.
Teams: Harbour View — Michaud Barrett, Dejanni Isaacs, Christopher Harvey, Daminan Anderson, Rosario Harriott, Nicholas Beckett, John-Ross Edwards, Kevaughn Frater (Mark Miller 77th), Jermaine Hue (Anthony Greenland 69th), McKaully Tulloch (Demarley Oliver 87th), Ranique Muir
Subs not used: Dane Chambers, Stephen Barnett, Anthony Marks
Booked: Isaacs (38th)
Barbican — Shawn Lawes, Ramone McGregor, Ashek Taylor, Dean Phillips, Akino Bailey, Akean Shackleford (Jermaine Parris 81st), Shaquelle Lewis (Bebeto McDonald 51st), Nicholas Smith, Okive Blake, Kemar Thomas, Steve Green (Jamohy Green 51st)
Subs not used: Nicholas Campbell, Akeem Brown, Stephen Smith, Marvin Senior
Booked: N Smith (34th), McGregor (55th)
Referee: Veralton Nembhard
Assistant Referees: Keble Williams, Terrence McKenzie
Fourth Official: Valdin Legister
Match Commissary: Richard Nathan
Source: The Jamaica Observer