By Charmaine Austin, Staff Reporter
MISSED CHANCES haunted hosts Arnett Gardens as they suffered a heartbreaking 2-0 loss to Harbour View in their rescheduled National Premier League game at the Tony Spaulding Complex yesterday.
That blow, coupled with the news of the tragic death of popular community leader, William Moore, popularly known as "Willie Hogart", cast a sombre mood over the complex.
Fifteen minutes into the game, and only two minutes after Arnett's Cornel Chin-Sue received a yellow card, Harbour View went ahead.
A telling long pass from Donald Stewart in midfield to the right, found Baris Johnson, who beat his man and crossed perfectly for Shawn Henry to slam home from close range.
Arnett Gardens soon had a chance to equalise when Kwame Richardson crossed from the left to an unmarked Kevin "Pele" Wilson, who volleyed over the crossbar.
They also had their appeal for a penalty turned down when Denton Shedden appeared to have been brought down in the box in the 29th minute, but referee Clive Wright was uninterested and signalled for them to play on.
Wilson picked up a loose ball shortly after, Harbour View failed to clear, but his effort went inches high.
The homesters continued to penetrate the Harbour View defence as a build-up on the left between Chin-Sue and Wilson saw goalkeeper Leroy Gray having to make a diving save after a good attempt by the latter.
The defending champions led 1-0 at halftime.
At the start of the second half, Harbour View made a change in attack when they brought on Mark Miller for an ineffective Ali Rose.
Miller made his presence felt soon after and picked up a yellow card for committing a foul on Shane Stevens.
Arnett again went on the prowl. Wilson sent a cross to the middle which was picked up by Shedden whose back-heel attempt was cleared off the line by a defender. Shedden failed to capitalise on another cross from the left which passed tantalisingly close to his foot and went wide.
Almost immediately from a right-side corner kick, a Eugene Barnes' header flashed by the post as Arnett continued to pile on the pressure in search of the equaliser.
Harbour View made additional changes to their line-up. Craig Stewart replaced Daniel Shaw while Andre Virtue was brought on for Sean Henry.
Yellow cards were also issued to Shaw for showing dissent, his teammate Kevin Rose and Arnett's Gerald Neil.
Keeper Selvin Collins was forced to make a rare save in the dying moments of the game as Harbour View made one of their few forays into the Arnett Gardens half.
However, Collins' luck ran out in time added when, through a counter-attack, a defence-splitting pass found substitute Miller, who calmly rounded the custodian and slotted home to register the second goal.
Winning coach Peter Cargill said his team's victory was deserved.
"Most victories are earned and today's win was well deserved. I must commend the players on a good performance and the way they worked as a unit today," Cargill said.
"We've been doing well based on the way we've been playing in recent times and the commitment being shown by the players. I'm satisfied with our preparations going into the semifinal round.
Arnett's coach, Jerome Waite, said: "If a team doesn't score it can't win and that's what happened to us today. We didn't score so we couldn't win.
"We still have three more games before we even think about the semi-finals. There is more work to be done especially in the offensive part of the team, but nevertheless, it was just another day of bad performance from the Arnett Gardens team."
