By Audley Boyd, Staff ReporterCONFIDENT Harbour View will be seeking to maintain Jamaica's current dominance in regional club football when they begin the battle today for the remaining spot from this zone in the CONCACAF Club Championship.
Premier League champions Arnett Gardens won the first of two spots by overpowering teams from Haiti and St. Lucia in the Group A and Harbour View are sure they can continue that trend.
Harbour View who were due in Trinidad and Tobago last night face St. Vincent's Union Sportive du Robert at 6 p.m. today at the Ato Boldon Stadium. Their second and final match in the three-team group is against Trinidad and Tobago's W. Connection on Friday night.
Coach Donovan Hayles said they expected to do well just before the team flew out yesterday for today's opening game.
"If you look at the make-up of our team, at least 70 percent of our players have represented the country and Jamaica is doing well in football and especially in this region," reasoned Hayles.
Harbour View have had experience at this level before and barely missed qualifying for the CONCACAF stage when they lost 0-1 to Joe Public, another Trinidad and Tobago team, two years ago in the deciding game.
Both teams had tied for first in the initial playoff which Hayles said took place "in poor conditions which weren't conducive to our style of play."
They beat W. Connection then and though Hayles reckons they are a good team, he is certain they can beat them again.
"We've an idea about W. Connection. It's a very strong Trinidadian team. I don't know much about the St. Vincent team but in speaking to Carl Brown and Peter Cargill, they've shown me the style of football they play over there. I'm going to look at it and assess it but overall, we're going there to employ our style of football," he said.
They are playing good attacking football at the moment and have scored the most goals in the Premier League, where they now hold the leadership position.
Actually, their qualification for this year's tournament came through the withdrawal of last year's Premier League runners-up, Hazard, and since they finished third the place was automatically theirs.
They emphatically made use of the opportunity by thumping Cayman Islands' Georgetown FC 4-0 away and 9-0 at Compound.
Harbour View won't have the luxury of a home leg this time and even though Hayles admits there are advantages to be had as hosts, he said it should not be too much of a factor.
Squad: Leon Gordon, Leeroy Gray, Clifton Waugh, Daniel Shaw, Fabian Taylor, Jomo Gordon, Donald Stewart, Craig Stewart, Damion Stewart, Sean Fraser, William Richards, Nicholas McCreath, Christopher Harvey, Dino Williams, Jermaine Hue, Christopher Jackson, Marvin Morgan, Baris Johnson, and possibly Robert Scarlett.
