Dull draw spoils Harbour View's chances

Audley Boyd, Assistant Editor - Sport

HARBOUR VIEW'S last hope for an end-of- round final spot taper-ed out tamely in a lousy 1-1 draw against Arnett Gardens in their 11th and final first-round fixture of the Cash Plus Premier League, at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex yesterday.

Leon Strickland for Arnett and Harbour View captain Fabian Taylor illuminated a real off-key display by appeasing both sets of otherwise expressively distraught spectators with a goal apiece.

Strickland took a long free kick behind a flat Harbour View backline and used his body to shield the ball before hitting a low shot to give Arnett the lead at the 54th minute.

Counter-attacks

Harbour View, the defending champions, stepped up the pace but never created the openings they sought as Arnett's defence consolidated and launched a spate of counter-attacks that gave them several clear opportunities to kill off the contest.

With the door still open, Harbour View gladly took the invitation six minutes from time when substitute Errol Stevens supplied a grounded cross from the right flank and Taylor hit it sweetly one time, low and hard, inside the near post from 14 yards to easily beat goalkeeper Julian McLeish and level the scores.

Jermaine Hue got the last chance in the 90th minute to seal a victory that really could have gone to either team, but probably justly, McLeish saved at the near post to ensure both teams got rewarded for their effort in a game punctuated with a great deal of unforced bad passes, especially when the teams sought to add pace while moving from the mid to final third.

Neither coach appeared fazed by the result which saw Harbour View inch up to 16 points and Arnett 14.

Focused

"It was the most likely result, but we wanted to finish on 16 (points)," noted Arnett's coach Max Straw afterwards. "We don't like conceding goals and once we'd taken the lead we thought we'd have taken it home ... It was up to us to concentrate and stay focused."

Harbour View's Lenworth Hyde Sr. tied it up perfectly.

"The way how we played, the draw was good. The players were slow, they were going through the motions, they were just too lethargic. It was a very dull game and for the premier league, the pace of the game has to increase."