- CARLINGTON WILMOT/Freelance Photographer
Tivoli Gardens' goalscorer, Christopher Nicholas (left) and Harbour View's Lovell Palmer battle for the ball in the first-leg of their Caribbean Club Championships final at the Harbour View Mini Stadium last night. The game ended 1-1. Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
HARBOUR VIEW came from behind to earn a deserved 1-1 draw against Tivoli Gardens in the first leg CONCACAF Caribbean Cup final encounter at the Harbour View Mini Stadium last night.
A 15th minute strike by Christopher Nicholas gave Tivoli Gardens an early lead but substitute Akeem Priestly equalised in the 82nd minute to set up an intriguing return leg next Wednesday at the Edward Seaga Stadium.
Donovan Hayles, coach of Harbour View, thought his team should have won as it totally dominated its opponents.
"The pace was too much for Tivoli and that's the way we want to play, excellent football at high pace," Hayles said.
He was not perturbed when his team fell behind as he knew it would score. "This team has shown that it won't finish a game without scoring; I was not worried," said Hayles.
Meanwhile, Tivoli's coach, Glendon Bailey, was more satisfied with the result.
"When we travel on the road, we try to secure a point and win at home. We have to give credit to Harbour View. They came at us but we stuck in there," Bailey said.
TIVOLI DREW FIRST BLOOD
In front of the biggest crowd at the 'Compound' this season with new lighting, the game got off to a fast start as both teams tried to gain the upper hand. But it was the visitors who drew first blood. National striker Roland Dean stripped Jermaine Taylor of the ball in the box and relayed to an unmarked Nicholas who fired into an empty goal to silence the partisan crowd.
Immediately, Harbour View should have equalised but for a moment of selfishness from Sean Fraser who had two teammates unmarked but chose to shoot straight at the goalkeeper, to the annoyance of his teammates.
The half ended with Harbour View's playmaker, Jermaine Hue, missing in action once again and Harbour View lacking ideas to break down the well-organised visitors. Nevertheless, it was Harbour View who had the greater possession as they pressed for the equaliser as Tivoli sat back and countered through the deceptive Dean and Nicholas.
The second half started as the first, at a hectic pace, but Hue's miserable night was concluded in the 55th minute when he was replaced by Priestly.
With time running out, Harbour View pulled one back and it was a beauty. Priestly collected a ball from an acute angle in the box and fired into the roof of the net.
