Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
THERE WAS almost mayhem at the Compound on Monday night after a 33rd-minute goal by Fabian Dawkins gave Village United a 1-0 win over Harbour View in their Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) encounter.
After the game, Kevin King was red carded for complimenting referee Howard Stennett on his "good game".
Moments later, it got uglier when a supporter rushed on to the field, hell bent on passing his judgement on the referee and had to be forcefully restrained, saying he was "tired of this now".
The entire Compound was buzzing during and after the game as the home team felt they were hard done by some poor refereeing.
Harbour View, with only one win in their past six NPL games and one win in their past nine games overall, have seen their massive lead cut tremendously.
Harbour View, with 54 points, are only five ahead of Waterhouse who have a game in hand against Tivoli Gardens and could cut that lead to two points.
Donovan Hayles, coach of Harbour View, was livid with the officiating but was muzzled by football association rules.
"I don't want to make the comments but it is difficult when you are trying to win games against the odds in this manner ... it is totally unfair," Hayles said.
"Our problem is there are oppositions and we just have to try and play through it. Obviously, this lead situation and what is being said in the press is getting the better of other people and they are taking matters in their own hands and not allowing the teams to pull their own stops and do their own jobs.
HEART-RENDING
"It is sad and really heart-rending. If the team plays and loses a battle between the 22 players then it is something you can really live with but with other forces it is difficult. You can't coach against that," said Hayles.
But Howard Stennett, the man in the middle, defended himself against the insinuations - especially a penalty call after Daniel Shaw was thought to have been bundled over in the box.
"That's their opinion, referees can't win games for teams. Teams must learn to win games for themselves. How many goals did I score against them. Referees can't score goals for you," said Stennett.
On Shaw's penalty shout, he said: "That was assimilation and assimilation is an offence. How can a player being bundled over from the back and end up on his bottom. He should have fallen front ways on his belly. "I would like to know the logic in that," he said. "That player was shielding the ball, bracing on the player behind him and the player moved."
Amid the controversy, one man was happy. Dr. Dean Weatherly, coach of Village.
"Playing at Harbour View and getting three points is a very good feat for us especially at this time of the season," Weatherly said.
After taking the lead, Village defended stoutly for the entire second half. It was like a training session of defence against forwards. They rarely attacked their opponents.
"I was satisfied with the general performance with how they stuck to the task and the energy that they put into the game," said Weatherly.
Village now have 38 points, the same as Portmore and Tivoli Gardens in joint third position.
GOALSHEET
VILLAGE UNITED 1
Fabian Dawkins - 33rd
HARBOUR VIEW 0
STANDINGS
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Harbour View | 25 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 41 | 19 | 22 | 54 |
| Waterhouse | 24 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 42 | 25 | 17 | 49 |
| Tivoli | 24 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 42 | 30 | 12 | 38 |
| Portmore | 24 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 34 | 23 | 11 | 38 |
| Village | 25 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 40 | 32 | 8 | 38 |
| Seba | 25 | 9 | 5 | 11 | 30 | 34 | -4 | 32 |
| Boys Town | 24 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 24 | 25 | -1 | 31 |
| Arnett | 24 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 31 | 34 | -3 | 31 |
| Wadadah | 25 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 27 | 41 | -14 | 25 |
| Reno | 25 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 18 | 25 | -7 | 23 |
| Rivoli | 25 | 2 | 12 | 11 | 18 | 40 | -22 | 18 |
| C Spring | 24 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 18 | 37 | -19 | 17 |
