Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
IT WAS an ugly win that stretched Harbour View F.C's lead atop the Wray and Nephew Premier League table - a scrappy 1-0 margin over Wadadah F.C at the Harbour View Mini Stadium on Sunday night.
Things went far from smoothly for the Stars of the East and in addition to a patchy game, Sunday saw the third red card in just two games being issued to yet another Harbour View player.
This time it was midfielder Donald Stewart who was sent to the showers early without prior warning for a 70th-minute tackle on Wadadah's Rohan Reid, after he had lost possession of the ball.
Though Harbour View did not have the best of games, their coach, Donovan Hayles, focused on the fact that his team started the second round with a win.
GOOD WIN DESPITE BAD PLAY
"Tonight we did not play particularly well, but it's good to win even when you play badly. It's a good habit to pick up - winning games even when you play badly," said coach.
"We really wanted to win the end-of-round final, but we always had our eyes on the main premier league and this is a good restart for us," he said.
Another positive for the league leaders was the return from injury of ace striker Luton Shelton, who wasted no time opening his second-round account as early as the 15th minute. Shelton used his pace to get onto an accurately-measured cross from strike partner Kevin King and then struck a well-placed one-time shot to lob Wadadah custodian Gavine Barrett for the game's only goal.
VERY PHYSICAL MATCH
The pitch had not been a place for the faint of heart on Sunday and a very physical brand of football from both teams had made a free-flowing game fairly difficult.
In spite of that, Wadadah had their fair share of scoring opportunities and have only themselves to blame for at least not having taken a share of the points.
"I am disappointed that we were not able to come away with at least a point here today," said Wadadah's coach Anthony Williams. "We had our chances and failed to put them away, but that's football.
"Our record away from home really hasn't been that good so far this season. We need to improve that, but we just have to keep putting in the work," he admitted.
