By LeVaughn Flynn, Staff ReporterONE-TIME Wray and Nephew National Premier League front-runner Harbour View were outclassed by Arnett Gardens 3-0 yesterday in an entertaining match-up at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex.
Walter Boyd's double (9th and 90+2 minutes) and Kwame Richardson's (46th) header gave the 'Junglists' three points, increasing their total to 32 and four third round points. They also slowed Harbour View's pace who are gunning for the semi-final. They remain on 44 points and one in this round.
It didn't take long for Arnett to assert themselves and in the ninth minute Boyd rattled the back of the net after intercepting a Ray Graham shot in the area.
In the opening minute of the second half, Kwame Richardson further stamped Arnett's dominance on the game with a diving header.
Harbour View were without ace striker Fabian Taylor due to injury and defender Damion Stewart on a one-game suspension (red card).
Nicholas McCreath, taking Taylor's role, made a few good runs at Arnett's defence but had problems dealing with Jerry Walters and Shane Stevens. Both men stabilised Arnett's backline, denying Harbour View any real opportunity.
PLAY WITH A PURPOSE
"Today the team came here to play with a purpose," said Arnett's coach Jerome Waite.
"They gave it their best and the result shows you that," he said.
The return of Arnett's veteran players back in the line up seemed to give new life to the club.
"It engineers a lot to the team because based on their experience and knowledge towards the game and understanding of the system of play you could see a big difference today," Waite said of his senior players.
Harbour View's coach Donovan Hayles admitted that his team was a bit lacklustre, saying: "Today we weren't as sharp on the ball and that was very disappointing and our transition from attack to defence was very slow and vice versa."
Hayles shied away from how much Taylor's absence affected the team and said he believed his team has the depth to manage.
"I don't want to use any explanations. I thought Arnett Gardens played a good game and I don't worry about who I don't have. I have to think about who I have to win the game. The players that I have playing are the ones to win or lose, not the ones I don't have," he stated.
Invaders pay dearly for red card
Nodley Wright, Freelance Writer
THE TRELAWNY derby in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League between Village United and Invaders Football Club turned out to be a one-sided affair as Village came out with a 4-1 win.
Ian McAnuff, Teofore Bennett, Warren Ukah and Shane Crawford scored for Village, while Thomas Grant got Invaders' goal.
Both teams competed equally in terms of numbers and possession of play until the 15th minute when central defender Garfield Brown got himself sent off for a second bookable offence.
The big central defender who had been booked inside the first 10 minutes went up to challenge the equally bulky Ukah for the ball and took him out with a blow to the back. He fell to the ground and had to be treated. Referee Raymond Pine who was close by, quickly produced the second yellow followed by the red and Brown was on his way for an early shower.
The numerical advantage should have put Invaders on the defensive but that was far from the case. They continued to give as much as they got from the hard-running Village.
Invaders took the lead in the 30th minute through Thomas Grant who surprised many by finishing with his right foot. Grant challenged Kirk Hendricks successfully in the air for a ball played in by Delroy Ellis and finished coolly past Elvis Hart.
Just when a number of people were about to write off Village with talk that they have a problem playing against 10 men, midfielder McAnuff stepped up to toe home an equaliser in the 45th minute. Wing back Mark Williams was the provider, chipping the ball into the 18-yard box.
Based on the way they played the first half, one would have expected Invaders to come for the second half in with the same attitude but it was not to be.
According to coach Cassman Williams his players could no longer keep up with Village.
"I think the reduction of players really took its toll on the players because they had to be working overtime and they lost energy and could not keep up with Village moving for the entire game," said Williams.
BROKE THE INVADERS RESISTANCE
With the mobility of Invaders restricted, Village took up residence in their opponents' half and it was only a matter of time before they would be rewarded.
Bennett broke the Invaders resistance in the 64th minute and two minutes later Ukah added the third.
Ukah's goal involved a beautiful movement down the right flank by Dawkins who crossed inside. The ball was met by the head of Bennett which propelled it onto the crossbar and rebounded to Ukah. Ukah's point blank header found its mark.
Crawford completed the rout with a nice free-kick from just outside the 18-yard box in the 80th minute.
"Beautiful. Beautiful," was how Village coach Lloyd Williams summed up his team's play after the game. "The coverage was good, midfield players played to instructions instead of running forward to make that final pass.
"They went forward with the timing of the squares. If you notice that first ball, the midfield player came across just in time to get that toe to it. The team was moving in much more co-ordination than just running forward," he continued.
Tempers flare at Jarrett Park
Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
SEBA UNITED and Constant Spring played out a bad tempered 1-1 draw last night at Jarrett Park in their Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) third round game.
Controversy shrouded the last five minutes of the game after referee Courtney Campbell disallowed a goal scored by Seba United that would have given them the lead and this led to missiles being thrown on the field and the game being held up.
To add to the confusion, Seba United's national Under 23 midfielder, Damian Williams, who was a second half substitute, was sent off in time added.
Williams, who returned to the island only hours before the start of the game after returning from the Olympic qualifying tournament, spent less than 30 minutes on the field before he was sent off after he was pointed out by one of the assistant referees as the player who floored Constant Spring's Daemion Benjamin with an elbow.
PHYSICAL BUT NOT DIRTY
The game was a competitive, physical but not dirty and at times was top notch before the disruption.
Fabian Watkins gave Constant Spring the lead after 26 minutes from the penalty spot after Rupert Lewin handled the ball in the area, while Iton Scott replied with a brilliant free kick in the 57th.
Seba's coach, Tommy Taylor, told reporters after the game that he challenged the desire of his players at half time, asking them repeatedly if they wanted to win the game or not.
He said: "Because of how high profiled the game was tonight I thought the players handled it really well. They (Constant Spring) had one or two chances but at the end of the game I thought we had better chances than them and we put them under a lot of pressure."
Taylor said if he can get more players to train, the two-time champions could be a much improved bunch.
His Constant Spring counterpart, Danny Lyn, who filled in for regular coach Geoffrey Maxwell who was reportedly ill, said he was not satisfied with the point as for them, the game was all or nothing.
Lyn said: "I am still not satisfied with the point as today it was a win or lose for us. We are still in with an outside shot at the semi-finals and a draw would not have helped the situation so it was eggs or young ones."
The match was the last on yesterday's schedule and Lyn said: "Earlier results were all in favour of 'Spring' gaining ground but we did not take advantage."
He conceded, however, that his team was outplayed in the second half by Seba.
"We played a good first half and took the lead but the team came out to defend the lead in the second and once Seba took control of the game it was inevitable they would score."
Star Cosmos give up lead in dying seconds
Devon Evans, Freelance Writer
OCHO RIOS, St. Ann:
LOWLY-PLACED Star Cosmos of St. Mary surrendered a 48th minute lead to finish 1-1 with beaten End of Second Round finalist Rivoli in their Wray and Nephew National Premier League game at Drax Hall yesterday.
Keion Clunis gave Star Cosmos the lead, but Devon Hodges secured the draw for Rivoli in the 90th minute of the game.
It was a hard fought game from the start and as usual the St. Mary team, backed by strong home crowd support, had Rivoli on the defensive from early but their St. Catherine opponent bounced back nicely and even got the ball into the net, only for that goal to be ruled offside.
PENALTY
The second half started with Star Cosmos launching an early attack on Rivoli and earning themselves a penalty in the 47th minute from a foul committed by goalkeeper Dennis Clayton, who also picked up a yellow card for the offence. Clunis booted home the goal from the penalty spot.
As the game progressed, both teams became involved in some strong attacking play in the middle with Rivoli proving at times to be the more dominant. But weak attacks on the goals kept the score unchanged.
Within the last 10 minutes, Star Cosmos defenders Richard Morgan, Orville McPherson, Randy McLean and Kurt Edwards who had been working well, were later joined by several other players in an effort to keep the attacking Rivoli players at bay.
However, it was a quickly taken free kick from Rivoli in the 90th minute that caught the Star Cosmos players flat-footed and allowed Hodges to run on and head into the goal to give his team a point from the game.
DISAPPOINTING GAME
"This is another disappointing game for us because we had the game in control for 90 minutes and gave a soft goal in extra time," said Star Cosmos' coach Lewin Purser.
However, he gave credit to his players for showing courage.
Rivoli's coach Utah Blade, though pleased with the result, said his team gave away the game from the first half when they should have scored several goals, adding he was always confident that they would have fought back.
