Disciplined Harbour View lift Bell KO

Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

For the second consecutive Claro/KSAFA Jackie Bell KO match, Harbour View triumphed as a result of maintaining their discipline and their opponents doing the opposite.

On this occasion it was the all-important final, which was played on Wednesday at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex. The Stars of the East came away eventual 5-4 winners on penalties over Arnett Gardens, after being locked at 1-1 following regulation and extra time.

Arnett totally dominated possession in the first half and for much of the second half before taking a well-deserved lead in the 73rd minute through Dennis McKinley.

The game took a turn in the 87th minute when Arnett were reduced to 10 players. Gerald Neil, who had picked up a silly yellow card in the first half for an off-the-ball foul on Lamar Nelson, committed his second bookable offence and was ejected.

Harbour View were then able to push everything into attack and found a stoppage-time equaliser, courtesy of substitute Andre Steele.

The Stars of the East were in a similar position in their semi-final encounter with Boys' Town, when they were able to gain the initiative and clinch a last-minute victory following the dismissal of Boys' Town's Anthony Bennett (74th) for violent conduct.

Donovan Hayles, coach of Harbour View, emphasised how important it is for his players to remain disciplined.

"Discipline is one of the most important things to me in football," Hayles declared. "If you expect to win games, you have to have 11 players on the field at all times, so you have to maintain your discipline," he elaborated.

"One of the things we do is that any player that gets a card that we think wasn't as a result of tackle done in an effort to help the team, is fined for the card," Hayles shared.

Arnett's coach, Paul 'Tegat' Davis, refused, however, to lay blame at the feet of Neil or Kevin 'Pele' Wilson, who was the only person to miss from the penalty spot, for the defeat.

"Things do happen, it is just that we have to learn from our mistakes," Davis expressed. "So I wouldn't kill them (Neil and Wilson), so to speak. Bigger than them miss penalties and bigger than them get red cards, so it is football overall," he concluded.