Harbour View cool Boys' Town
published:
Monday | October 20, 2008
Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer
Boys' Town's Denzil Watson (left) tackles Harbour View midfielder Richard Edwards during the Digicel Premier League football match at Collie Smith Drive yesterday. Harbour View won 1-0. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
Marcelino Blackburn handed Harbour View a 1-0 win over Boys' Town in the feature game of Digicel Premier League at Collie Smith Drive yesterday.
Blackburn, who is well-known in the area having represented Charlie Smith High in the Manning Cup and later Arnett Gardens in the Premier League, came on as a 55th minute substitute and before he could settle, was given an opportunity in the 60th minute which he duly converted.
The win preserved Harbour View's unbeaten start under new Brazilian head coach, Waldemar de Oliveira and kept them in pole position with 14 points.
Boys' Town, who were losing for the first time, remained on nine points.
Good performance
"We came out with a plan to play Boys' Town and we won," said Harbour View assistant coach, Donovan Hayles.
"We know their style and approach and simply adjusted our game to take advantage. It was a good performance as we played well for 90 minutes of concentrated football," he added.
Not a classic by any means, the game was one of two halves with Boys' Town controlling proceedings in the first and Harbour View coming fully into their own in the second.
In the first stanza, led by slippery striker Denzil Watson, Boys' Town had at least five decent attempts on goal. However, thanks to wayward shooting and good goalkeeping from former national youth 'keeper, Dwayne Miller, Harbour View were kept in the match.
Glorious opportunity
The battle then shifted to the second half and after a relatively listless first 10 minutes, Blackburn, or "Bassa" as he is popularly called, along with another former Manning Cup stand-out, Rafiek Thomas of Spanish Town High, was introduced.
The move paid off almost immediately as tackling and running good off the ball, Blackburn was then presented with a glorious opportunity - a cheeky back-heeled pass from Thomas - to score after the Boys' Town defence line was caught flat. With only the goalkeeper to beat he slotted home from inside the penalty box.
The goal silenced Boys' Town supporters and sent shock waves throughout the venue, as if a pin was dropped you could hear. It also spurred the home team to make a couple of changes. However, with Harbour View defiant they could not break through.
"We played one half of football today," said Boys' Town coach Andrew Price. "We got a lot of goalscoring opportunities in the first half and could have put them out of the match," he added. "We must now learn from or mistakes and grow."
DPL score card
Digicel Premier League results and scorers, plus standings after four completed matches in yesterday's sixth round.
Boys' Town 0 Harbour View 1
GOAL: Harbour View - Marcelino Blackburn 60th
St Georges 2 Meadhaven 0
GOALS: St Georges - Daniel Shaw 27th pen., Ricardo Watson 81st
Tivoli 2 Waterhouse 1
GOALS: Tivoli - Roland Dean 40th, Jermaine Taylor 74th; Waterhouse - Jermaine Anderson 24th
Village United 3 Rivoli 2
Goals: Village - Jonathan Yahnoa 4th, Troy Smith 73rd, Omar Allen 77th; Rivoli - Devon Hodges 24th, Alwyn Morgan 64th
Arnett 0 Reno 0
Portmore 0 Sporting 0
Standings
(Tabulate under Teams, Play, Win, Draw, Lose, Goals For, Goals Against, Points)
