Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
HAYLES
HARBOUR VIEW'S coach Donovan Hayles has voiced concerns about his team's tendency not to maintain a high level of performance in the second half of their matches, following a 2-1 win over Montego Bay's Seba United in Sunday's late fixture in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League.
The east Kingston team got off to a flyer and led 2-0 by the half hour mark, but had to fend off a strong second half Seba fightback to secure the three points.
Hayles found his team's tendency of not performing well in the second half a worrying trend.
"I am very disappointed in the way we played the second half. Again we keep on falling down in the second half," Hayles remarked.
"Maybe we need to examine our tactical plays but we are definitely not doing well in the second half and that is an aspect of our game that we have to examine," he added.
The win, Harbour View's fifth of the season, pushed them to 15 points, two ahead of second place Waterhouse and five ahead of Portmore, Arnett and Tivoli who are locked in a three-way tie for third.
PROMISING START
Following up on a very promising start, the home team made their mark as early as the 16th minute.
The bustling King, who was voted as Harbour View's player of the game, was brought down just outside of the 18-yard box. This gave right back Nicholas Dodd an opportunity to whip the ball into the box from the resulting set piece. An unmarked Loxley Thomas then took advantage of the opportunity to head past the stranded keeper Alrick Henry, giving his team a 1-0 lead.
Striking while the iron was hot, the Stars of the East would add another just nine minutes later.
King would once again be the source of inspiration. He ran onto a well-measured through ball and after breaking into the box, blasted a shot that would come crashing back off the upright. His teammate Richard West would, however, be on hand to profit from the rebound as he easily slotted past Henry to put his team even further ahead to make a 2-0 lead they would keep to the interval.
The first five minutes of the second half would see Harbour View begin as brightly as they ended the first and they looked like putting the game out of reach. But Seba gradually settled and began to enjoy fairly good spells of possession. Their diligence would not go unrewarded and in the 65th minute they would pull one back.
Seba striker Kemar James, who proved to be a handful for the Harbour View defence for most of the game, would slide in to beat Harbour View custodian Leighton Murray and poke the ball into the back of the net for his third goal of the season.
Though Seba would continue to dominate play in search of the equaliser, it proved to be an elusive one and they would come away empty handed.
"We put the pressure on them, beat them to the football, they started making mistakes, we played the football around got one goal and we should have got another," was Seba's coach Paul 'Tegat' Davis' assessment of an improved second half performance.
Despite failing to get a point, he believes that there were positives.
"This team can only get better. Even though we've lost four games now we'll continue to search for the right combination of players, improve our fitness and we'll definitely get better," he reiterated.
GOALSHEET
HARBOUR VIEW 2
Loxley Thomas - 16th, Richard West - 25th
SEBA UNITED 1
Kemar James - 65th
