Harbour View ease past Dunbeholden
Published:Tuesday | February 28, 2023 | 11:45 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter -
BUOYED BY the return of their dynamic trio of Colorado Murray, Jahshaun Anglin and Timar Lewin who all missed the team’s last two games, Harbour View blanked Dunbeholden 2-0 at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex yesterday in a rematch of last season’s final.
Shamari Dyer (53rd minute) and Colorado Murray (68th) were the scorers for the winners.
Harbour View, who looked the more threatening of the two throughout the night’s action, came close to opening their account just before halftime but Rojay Smith’s effort from point-blank range was superbly saved by Dunbeholden’s goalkeeper Damian Hyatt.
With very few chances on offer, it took the Ludlow Bernard-coached Harbour View eight minutes in the second half to go 1-0 up as a neat team build-up was capped off by Dyer’s magnificent first-time strike which powered past the Dunbeholden goalkeeper.
Following sustained pressure along with expert substitutions, Harbour View went 2-0 up in the 68th minute when substitute Hamilton’s trickery combined with a brilliant cross from the left flank was calmly and superbly finished by substitute Murray.
The head coach of the defending champions said his move to start some of his most experienced players on the bench was intentional.
“I think the depth of our squad spoke and it was intentional what we did in trying to wear down the opponents. It’s also pleasing (impact of Murray and Hamilton) seeing the struggles that we would been through with the two of them as neither of them has been on the score sheet for quite a while hence the reason why they were on the bench. We are working with some youngsters and one thing they do is that they give a lot of work and fight, so whenever these experienced players come on the field the opposition has already been worn down so I think it was a good strategy on our part,” said Bernard.
Dunbeholden were losing their third game in four games and assistant coach Craig Richards was disappointed with the team’s effort on the night.
“Well, we were unable to convert some of our early chances in the first half while Harbour View got their chances and converted them. We had been training well throughout the week so it’s unfortunate that we were unable to convert. We have to now go back to the drawing board,” Richards stated.