Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
FRASER
WESTERN BUREAU
HARBOUR VIEW'S coach Donovan 'DV' Hayles can almost feel the one million dollars prize for finishing first in the preliminary competition of the Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL).
Harbour View sprinted four points clear of the field after beating Wadadah 2-0 at Jarrett Park on Sunday, to move into pole position for the top money.
Despite this, Hayles says they are not losing sight of the ultimate prize, which is winning the competition.
Sean Fraser was in the perfect position to capitalise on two good crosses and score - one in the 36th minute and the other in the 48th as Harbour View won their second straight match.
The win carried Harbour View to 68 points with two games to go, four more than second place Tivoli, and Waterhouse who have a game in hand. Portmore are fourth on 63 points.
Hayles admitted after the game that it was good to be so far in front.
"Yes it is good to have drawn so close to the bonus prize and based on the other results today (Sunday), we just have to do our work now and don't have to depend on anyone else to help us."
He said they intend to get maximum six points from their remaining two games - both at home to teams in the bottom half of the table - Reno and Rivoli.
Hayles was, however, full of praise for the effort that Wadadah put out saying: "I think they put on a spirited game and no one can fault their effort. They showed some spunk and had us under some pressure at times in the game and their chances at goal, while some were off target, were enough to keep us busy."
He said Harbour View did what they came to do, "keeping possession and spreading the ball wide and we basically did what we wanted to do today and that is always good."
Hayles said he had settled on a starting team for the semi-finals and was using the remaining games to try out new combinations just in case "we need to mix it up in the next round".
Wadadah Anthony 'Follies' Williams says his team was just going through the motions after avoiding relegation and not having any hopes of making the top four.
"What it boils down to right now is the players have already set their sights on next season. We can't reach semi-finals and we have avoided relegation and it is hard to motivate them to even train," Williams told The Gleaner.
He added that he had set a goal in the second round when they were second to last - to avoid relegation. After going on an eight game streak when they avoided losses, they saved their place for next season.
The only thing they could try to do now, Williams said, was to motivate the players to try and finish as high as possible and not just above the relegated teams.
