Chaotic finish brings Harbour View first points

HARBOUR VIEW FC’s first points in the Jamaica Premier League came under difficult circumstances at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, coming from behind to clip Montego Bay United 2-1.

In rainy weather, Harbour View had to navigate going behind in the 10th minute, courtesy of Bian Brown’s strike, in a game they expected their opponents to boss offensively.

“It is pleasing to leave here with all the points. Yes, things got heated but it’s football, it is two top teams and everybody wants the three points. We eventually got it in the end but the MBU unit is very tough and it is pleasing to travel from Kingston to get all the points. Massive thanks to the guys and coaching staff. Donald Stewart, one of the best coaches in defensive structure, really set up this team defensively for this game,” said Harbour View coach Jason Henry.

“We set out to be very compact and hard to break down. We focused on this when we were practising and it paid dividends today,” he added.

Even as they were forced back by MBU, Harbour View’s Oquassa Chong evened the scores in the 27th minute from the penalty spot.

Just when I seemed a point would do, substitute Omar Thompson went from hero to villain in the space of two minutes, first scoring in the 93rd minute, before picking up a red card in the 95th.

MBU could be said to have been the orchestrators of their own demise, wasting a number of presentable opportunities before Brown had two goals in the dying moments overturned by the referee, much to the chagrin of the coaching staff and players.

Despite the loss, coach of MBU Rodolfo Zapata said he was very proud of his team.

“This is a long race. It was a very exciting game and the team played hard and responded positively. The most important thing is that we created chances. It is football, we need to learn from our mistakes and look forward to the next game. We lost but we gave ourselves a chance to win or to draw,” said Zapata.