Arnett Gardens midfielder Everton Bunsie (left) controls the ball as Donald Stewart of Harbour View moves in to tackle. Both teams met in the second leg semi-final of the Craven A NPL semi-final at the National Stadium yesterday. Harbour View won the game 3-2 but lost 4-3 on aggregate. - Dennis CokeBy Nodley Wright,
Staff Reporter
AFTER 190 minutes of competitive and exciting football at the National Stadium, Waterhouse and Arnett Gardens earned the right to meet each other in the Craven A National Premier League (NPL) final.
Both teams advanced in contrasting fashion. It took a goal in the 10th minute of sudden death extra time from Damion Powell to break the deadlock between Tivoli Gardens and Waterhouse as both teams had played two full matches and nine minutes without getting a goal.
On the other hand Arnett Gardens went into their game with a 2-0 lead from the previous week but quickly found themselves behind in yesterday's game as Harbour View recovered to win 3-2 but lose 4-3 on aggregate.
The opening game between Tivoli Gardens and Waterhouse took on a similar appearance to last week's game where the latter looked like the better team in the first half. They took the action to their opponents but could not hit the back of the net as top striker Kevin Lamey was kept in check.
Towards the end of the first half Tivoli Gardens began to find their feet despite not getting much from their spark plug Jermaine Johnson.
Within five minutes of the resumption Waterhouse had two opportunities. Forward Andre Hickling had an effort deflected for a corner in the third minute while Edsel Scott chased off his line to deny Damion Williams who had beaten the off-side trap from an Irvino English pass.
Tivoli Gardens hit back almost immediately after with Green missing from a Nashan Allen pass while Orville Campbell in the seventh minute forced a diving save from Loxley Reid.
The western Kingston team which was by now having the better of play made a double change bringing in Oneil Brown and Christopher Nicholas for Carlos Gayle and Craig White. Tivoli Gardens continued to threaten with Orville Campbell testing Reid with a number of left foot drives.
From one of these drives, Allen failed to make contact with the head as the ball screamed across the Waterhouse goal. Campbell also had a half-volley from inside the 18-yard box, hit the crossbar and rebounded into play.
It was not all Tivoli Gardens in this half though as Waterhouse did have their moments. With the introduction of Alberto Fray and Jermaine Russell they became more forceful. They could have killed off the game at fulltime time but English struck the wall with his freekick from just outside the 18-yard box.
For the extra time period both coaches made tactical changes. Clarke changed his formation to 3-5-2 as he crowded the midfield. Waterhouse on the other hand retained their shape but dropped Lamey into midfield and pushed Powell up front.
Waterhouse's shuffling paid off as Powell was on hand to fire home a rebound from a Hickling shot. Hickling picked off a ball played out by goalkeeper Scott who would have been better served by passing to Marco McDonald who was to his left.
Hickling collected the ball and and dribbled towards goal, before letting fly with the left foot. The ball beat Scott but hit the left up upright and rebounded for Powell to react quicker than the Tivoli defence.
The feature game was a classic with end to end stuff from both teams. It had all the ingredients of a good match. Good tactical play, dribbling, passing, teamwork, good goalkeeping, a little cheekiness and of course goals - five of them.
It started off at a good pace with Harbour View taking the action to Arnett Gardens as coach Peter Cargill had promised they would do. As soon as the game began it was clear that there were little battles being fought by a number of players.
There was the Cornel Chin-Sue/Jermaine Hue clash, Gerald Neil against Robert Scarlett, Donald Stewart and Fabian Davis and Fabian Taylor up against William Richards. They did not disappoint.
Harbour View took the lead in the 13th minute from Taylor who lost his marker in the six-yard box. He turned home a pass from Donald Stewart who had collected a freekick from the left flank.
Arnett Gardens almost hit back 10 minutes later with an own goal as provider Stewart almost turned in a Kevin Wilson corner. Goalkeeper Selvin Collins went low to his right to block a header from Daniel Shaw which was going away from him.
Four minutes later Arnett Gardens hit back with Denton Shedden having his corner hooked off the line by Clifton Waugh. Two minutes later Harbour View had to scramble the ball out of their area as Arnett Gardens made it clear they would score.
Just five minutes into the second half, Arnett Gardens who had introduced Everton Bunsie for Jermaine Benjamin hit the crossbar with a freekick from Wilson.
They had just to wait five more minutes for their equaliser and a beauty it was. After a build-up involving Wilson and Bunsie, Davis played on Chin-Sue in the middle of the opponents' half. The man who was keeping a close tab on Hue, pushed the ball forward and blasted a right-footer from about 25 yards into the top left-hand corner past Leon Gordon in goal. The Arnett fans erupted.
That would not be the end. It was only the beginning. Harbour View had two solid shots on the Arnett Gardens goal saved by Collins.
In the 64th minute Hue rolled a freekick to substitute Ali Rose in the 18-yard box and just as he was about to shoot, captain Eugene Barnes blocked for a corner. The resulting corner was headed into the goal by Donald Stewart as Collins made a rare error.
Arnett Gardens were to level the score in the 78th minute with another beauty. This one from Neil. Neil was fed with a nice pass from Bunsie just outside his team's half.
He dribbled towards goal and sidestepped a half-hearted challenge from Scarlett and with the other defenders backing off and Gordon leaving his line, Neil blasted the ball over his head from about 22 yards.
With about five minutes to go the National Stadium and the grand stand area in particular became very tense as an eerie silence overcame the place. Arnett Gardens could have calmed the nerves of their fans with a minute to go but Chin-Sue missed an easy opportunity in the area as he lacked composure and a delicate touch.
Harbour View lifted the hopes of their fans in the first minute of time added on when substitute Baris Johnson executed a beautiful volley from inside the 18-yard box after being played on by Damion Stewart.
