HARBOUR View’s franchise player Jermaine Hue on Sunday night proved exactly why he was handed the captain’s armband and a starting spot in the defending champions’ line-up against Waterhouse, after just two weeks on the training pitch.
After forcing a diving save from Richard McCallum, shooting 25 yards out off his dangerous left foot in the 12th minute, with his team a goal down, Hue curled in a 38th-minute free kick for Andre Fagan to head home the equaliser for a 1-1 draw at the Harbour View Mini Stadium.
Despite Waterhouse captain Kenardo Forbes getting referee Oneil Clayton to have cheeky Hue correctly take his spot kick a yard or two farther on the right of the 18-yard box, that did not stop the Harbour View captain from putting the ball on Fagan’s forehead, as the striker outjumped McCallum to flash his header into goal.
However, the draw took Harbour View no closer to the lead now shared by Waterhouse, Portmore and Boys’ Town on 10 points, on an evening when all but one match was drawn in the Digicel Premier League.
The defending champions stayed seventh, edging up to seven points, one of five teams with as many to their tally.
Own-goal blunder
Coach Donovan Hayles thought they got enough chances to have taken full points at home, after central defender Dicoy Williams, under pressure from Waterhouse forward Peter Keyes, turned in an own goal to give Waterhouse a 1-0 lead.
Striker Jermaine Anderson’s low square from the right caught Williams scrambling for a clearance inside the six-yard box, with Keyes bearing down on him. The ball spun off his foot and past Michaud Barrett, with Keyes appearing to claim the goal.
“I think we totally dominated the match. We just failed to get the ball into the back of the net,” Hayles said, after watching Fagan get other chances in the second half and Marcellino Blackburn’s powerful half-volley from the left nicked the crossbar and rebound into play in the 59th minute.
The only moment for Waterhouse, he said, was when they scored, “but we took control and totally possessed the ball after that”.
Just as they did the previous week against Reno in a 1-0 home win, Waterhouse started strong but failed to maintain their momentum in the second half, getting few chances and surviving many.
Andre Thomas got their best chance to add a second goal, two minutes before the first half ended, when he kicked into the side netting from close range.