Portmore edge Harbour View 2-1 to earn first RSPL points

Jamaica Observer Sports

Monday, September 23, 2019

Defending champions Portmore United collected their first point of the Red Stripe Premier League season on Sunday when they stopped Harbour View 2-1 at Harbour View Compound.

Portmore took control of the early action and converted a sixth-minute penalty through national striker Cory Burke, with Harbour View fighting back to equalise in the 23rd minute through Tevin Scott, who scored a beauty.

Osani Ricketts, in the 84th minute, won the match for Portmore with the second exquisite finish of the day, as Portmore earned three points to get off the mark, after they lost their first three matches of the season.

Portmore remained second from bottom in the points standing. Tivoli Gardens Football Club (FC) are at the bottom after they also recorded their first point of the season on Sunday with a 2-0 victory over Cavalier FC, but remained last by goal difference.

At the Compound, with Harbour View kicking towards St Thomas and Portmore towards the Corporate Area, Portmore started the match on the offensive, pushing back Harbour View in their defensive third and eventually taking the lead when Dicoy Williams fouled Damian Williams inside the area with Burke scoring from the spot.

Harbour View responded with waves of attack at Portmore for the next 15 minutes, as they played the ball around inside the Portmore half of the pitch, although not creating many clear chances at goal.

Kemar Bennett, on the right, went close to providing the equaliser for Harbour View during that period, when he collected a cross from the left, cut slightly to the centre of goal and unleashed a powerhouse through a number of players that goalkeeper Benjamin Williams used reflexes to block.

The goal eventually came from a somewhat innocuous attack. Harbour View were attacking down the left flank with Portmore well positioned to repel them as they did on a number of occasions. The ball was passed inside to Scott just inside the Portmore half of the pitch, and the forward powered a high shot towards goal that dipped at the foot of the left upright and gave goalkeeper Benjamin no chance.

The action evened out for the rest of the half with Harbour View sending jitters through the Portmore fans immediately at the kick-off of the second stanza, with Scott, again going for the spectacular with a long range shot that had goalkeeper Williams going full stretch to avert danger.

That would be the best effort for the next 20 minutes as both teams failed to settle and indulged in poor passing and control that resulted in a scrappy affair.

In the final 15 minutes, Portmore started to gain the ascendency, but it was Scott who once again provided anxious moments when Harbour View broke away down the right flank and from an acute angle just inside the box, his powerhouse tested goalkeeper Shaven Paul, who had replaced Williams six minutes into the second half. Williams picked up a strain.

That effort was immediately made redundant when Portmore scored the winner from the counter, as Ricketts on the right inside the penalty area, fired a curling volley to the far post past goalkeeper Tafari Chambers, after a cross from the left had picked him out unmarked.

Teams: Harbour View — Tafari Chambers, Dicoy Williams, Ezran Simpson, Oshane Staple, Tavis Grant, Kevon Farquharson, John Luca Levee, Kemar Bennett, Timar Lewis (Mark Alves 81st), Tevin Scott, Ricardo Messam (Norman Campbell 58th) Subs not used: Akeem Smith, Gerald Neil, Jabari Howell, Romario Campbell, Bebeto McDonald Booked: Scott (8th), Williams (73rd) Portmore United — Benjamin Williams (Shaven Paul 51st), Ryan Wellington, Damian Williams (Sheldon McKoy 90th), Cory Burke, Andrew Lewis, Osani Ricketts, Romaine Brackenridge, Rondee Smith, Emelio Rousseau, Shai Smith, Kareem Banton (Rosario Harriott 71st) Subs not used: Earon Elliott, Hardley Barnes, Romaine Bowers, Chavali Edwards Booked: Ricketts (26th) Referee: Daneon Parchment Assistant referees: Nicholas Anderson, Ojay Duhaney Fourth official: Andre Farquharson —Job Nelson