Harbour View FC climbed to the top of the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) points standings on Saturday (July 17) when they tagged Dunbeholden United 2-0 at the Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence on the compound of the University of the West Indies.

Oquassa Chong netted his fourth goal of the season from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute for Harbour View’s lead with Tevin Scott completing the scoring in the 44th minute.

Harbour View, with the win, have eight points from four matches to lead the points standing. They are followed by Cavalier, on seven points from four matches and Portmore United, on six points from three.

Dunbeholden were losing their third match of the season after four outings and are on three points to be eighth in the 11-team competition. They are only ahead of Molynes United who are on one point and Humble Lion, who are yet to get off the mark.

Portmore, which previously lead the standings at the end of the third round, will play their fourth-round match against Tivoli Gardens on Monday.

Harbour View took the fight to Dunbeholden from the start of the match and after several missed chances, eventually took the lead when Chong, in the centre of goal just outside the six-yard box and with only goalkeeper Damion Hyatt to beat, was fouled from behind. He got up after being tumbled over, to score the penalty.

A foul, just outside the penalty on the left, presented Scott with Harbour View’s second goal, as the resulting free-kick was swung by Cristojaye Daley inside the six-yard box for him to side foot past goalkeeper Hyatt.

Harbour View started the second half again on the offensive as Dunbeholden gradually settled and raided their opponents constantly towards the end of the match, but were thwarted by goalkeeper Tafari Chambers or denied by poor finishes.

Harbour View ended the match with 10 men as Tarick Ximinies was sent off by referee Damion Coombs after picking up his second yellow card three minutes in second-half added time. Ximinies committed his first bookable offence in the 80th minute.

Harbour View’s coach Ludlow Bernard believes the windy conditions at the venue was a major factor in the outcome of the match, although they were prepared for it.

“Sometimes the conditions dictate that (how they play) and I think I have the squad to reflect any particular circumstance that may arise, so from as early as probably about 20 minutes from the end, we decided we were just going to close it down.

“I think what happened the breeze is a significant factor because Dunbeholden probably would have been on the back foot in the first half and then it switched and we had to apply the tactics that are going to be appropriate for the respective conditions. We knew ahead of time that this was going to be the situation, so we prepared ourselves for it,” Bernard said.
Meanwhile, coach Harold Thomas, says Dunbeholden got the opportunities to get a better result from the match.
“The chances came early in the game, it’s just that we didn’t take them. We were lacklustre today, but we still got enough chances to make a game out of it. We gave up two goals from set pieces so we have a lot of work to do and we just have to continue working,” said Thomas, who was conducting his second match for Dunbeholden as head coach.