Harbour View's coach Lenworth Hyde. - Contributed

Nodley Wright, Freelance Writer

Harbour View yesterday wrapped up the 2006/07 Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) like coach Lenworth Hyde wanted them to - on a winning note.

The champions defeated one-time title contenders Reno 2-1 at the Frome Sports Complex.

Fabian Taylor opened the scoring for Harbour View in the 25th minute before Martin Williams equalised for Reno two minutes later. Kavin Bryan scored the winner in the 48th minute, but still lost out to Irvino English by one goal in the race for leading scorer in the competition.

"We said that we wanted to win the remaining three games after the draw against Naggo Head and we did that. I wanted us to finish the competition on a high and I think we did that with those three games, a relaxed Hyde said at the end of the game.

We enjoyed it and it is good to win the last game of the season," he added.

Hyde lauded his players for their performance throughout the season, especially their consistency, something they lacked last year.

Consistency

"We won eight games in this round, seven in the first and eight in the second round so there was consistency in the team and our performance," said Hyde who represented Boys Town and Tivoli Gardens in his playing days and who previously guided Portmore United to the NPL title.

Usually, a losing coach would be disappointed at the end of the game but that emotion did not enter the head of Reno's Aaron Lawrence.

"We were disappointed to drop the points to Village and Seba but today we could not have been disappointed as the players performed up to their true ability. It was a great game overall," Lawrence said.

"It was a great game for both teams. Both teams played well. Whenever we play Harbour View it is always a good match, and if we continue to play like this and most of the teams start to play like this, then Jamaica's football will step up in the right direction," said Lawrence who is in his first year of retirement from competitive football.

With the season coming to a close, Lawrence, who has been with the club from its glory days, said work will have to be done to rebuild the club.

"We are looking forward to next season, but we have to try to build the structure of the club and we are trying to get some people to come on board because without the corporate support we will have a problem. It is a blessing why we have managed to reach so far this season, he concluded.