H. View struggle again
published: Friday | November 28, 2003
Paul-Andre Walker,
Staff Reporter
HARBOUR VIEW remain winless after two games in the second round of the Wray and Nephew National Premier League.
The 'Stars of the East' had to come from a goal down to save a point from lowly Invaders who have started this second round with a bang.
"We need to assess what is going on," were the lamentations of a disappointed Harbour View coach Donovan Hayles.
"We haven't won three points since the end-of-round final. We are bent on reaching the second end-of-round final and taking the lead in the competition, so to drop two points at home is very disappointing," Hayles said.
OPENED THE SCORING
Livingston Williams opened the scoring for Invaders in the 26th minute, while Harbour View found redemption at the feet of Fabian Taylor halfway through the second half.
In a flat game that didn't provide many exciting moments, it was Invaders who seemed more hungry for victory. The lethargy that Harbour View impressed upon the game was apparent and Invaders wasted no time in attacking them. An unnecessary free kick was given away by Harbour View and, to make matters worse, it was poorly defended and a close-range header by Invaders' Thomas Grant, was parried by custodian, Leroy Gray, only to find Williams with an empty net at his mercy.
The deficit seemed to wake Harbour View out of their slumber and they played more purposeful, if not more effective, football for the remainder of the first half.
Harbour View's Jermaine Hugh turned up to play in the second half and provided his team with the spark it needed. Lengthy periods of pressure began to open cracks in the Invaders' defence. One of these cracks resulted in a well-deserved equaliser. Substitute Nicholas McCreath, with a well-timed run, was able to pull off a good shot on the dribble that resulted in a mistake by Invaders' custodian Richard McCallum, the rebound was duly slotted home by Taylor to take away his opposition's advantage.
Former national representative and present Invaders' coach, Paul 'Tegat' Davis, saw the game as part of a building process.
"I thought we gave this one away. In the latter part of the game we started to give the ball away," he said. "We have a new team with some of the school players, so we are rebuilding. I'm hoping that we can bring it together by mid-season," he said.
