‘They played like warriors’

Humble Lion head coach Andrew Price says that they have not ruled themselves out of the playoff race yet after their 2-0 win over Harbour View in their Jamaica Premier League game at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence yesterday.

Goals from Andrew Vanzie in the 61st and Levaughn Williams in the 87th minutes secured the team their second win of the season and sees them move to 10th place in the table with six points.

Having struggled to get any points from their first five games, Humble Lion have now managed to get six points from their last three games and are now three points adrift of the top six. Despite only having two games remaining in the regular season and requiring certain results from other games to keep them within reach of the goal, Price said that the win would give them the confidence they need to approach their next two “cup finals”.

“Each game has to be treated as a must-win game for the rest of the season,” he said. “We still have a mathematical chance of qualifying for the playoff rounds, so it’s important that we continue to win, and I hope that this is a good platform.

“A clean sheet and three points, we haven’t had a clean sheet all season. So this is a step in the right direction and we are going to continue to work hard.”

What pleased Price the most was the way the team, which was forced into tactical changes because of the unavailability of players, battled throughout the 90 minutes.

PRESSURE

The most notable change Price made was deploying Vanzie in central defence rather than in his natural defensive midfield position. Price credited the leadership shown for being able to see out the result with Harbour View putting on pressure.

“I told the team before we came out here we needed a warrior-type approach, and they really came out here and played like warriors. Vanzie wouldn’t normally play in a central defensive position, but he had to fill the role, and he is experienced enough and mature enough to fill that role, and he did a decent job there. But the leadership of the team really helped,” Price said.

Harbour View did not lack chances to make things difficult for Humble Lion, especially in the first half. Oquassa Chong, the league’s leading goalscorer, had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the final minute of the first halfwhen he was put through on goal by Romario Campbell. But his low drive was saved by Dennis Taylor. Early in the second half, Chong was again picked out in the area but had a poor first touch, which allowed the Humble Lion defence to clear. Minutes later, Humble Lion’s Andre Clennon was taken down in the box by goalkeeper Akeem Smith and Vanzie was clinical from the spot to give Humble Lion the lead.

Harbour View assistant coach Sean Fraser lamented the poor finishing from his team, who were shut out for the first time this season.

“We have scored in every single game [up to] today,” Fraser said after the game. “I just think that we weren’t hungry enough today to score. I think that we were lacking in the last third. I think we created enough chances in the first half to put the game away, but we didn’t do that.”

Williams made the points safe four minutes from time with a tap in from close range. Harbour View, while still on nine points, have slumped to seventh place on goal difference.

Action continues today at the same venue with Arnett Gardens meeting defending champions Portmore United at 1 p.m. then Tivoli Gardens facing Dunbeholden at 3:30 p.m.

daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com

Humble Lion: Dennis Taylor, Shemar Rhoden, Gregory Lewis, Suege Graham, Andrew Vanzie, Lorenzo Lewin (Fabian Pascoe 90+2), Leonardo Jibbison, Mark Rodney, Andre Clennon (Rohan Richards 90+1), Javane Thompson (Levaughn Williams 65), Afiba Chambers.

Harbour View: Akeem Smith, Ajeanie Talbott, Akeem Mullings, Odorland Harding, Renaldo Wellington, Luca Levee (Casseam Priestley 46), Garth Stewart (Jamone Shepherd 46), Romario Campbell (Tevin Scott 74), Lennox Russell (Cristojaye Daley 59), Tyrese Williams (Ron-Jay Watson 56), Oquassa Chong