Harbour View hunt first-leg advantage in Caribbean Cup play-off
Published:Tuesday | November 28, 2023 | 12:08 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Harbour View coach Ludlow Bernard says his team will be hunting a win when they tackle Moca FC of Dominican Republic in the first leg of their Concacaf Caribbean Cup third- place match at Sabina Park this evening at 7 p.m.
With a place in the first round of the Concacaf Champions Cup (formerly the Concacaf Champions League) up for grabs, with the top three teams to advance to the region’s top club competition, Bernard insists that it is crucial they go to the Dominican Republic with an advantage in hand.
“We want to leave Jamaica with an advantage. So already I am declaring my intent for this game. But we will be very prudent in terms of how we do it,” he said.
Harbour View have conceded10 goals in the competition, five of which came in the semi-final first leg against Cavalier, and Bernard emphasised that discipline on both sides of the ball will be very important.
“We just have to ensure that we do not concede or be threatened in any way by the opposition. Let us hope, on the day, the players are disciplined enough going forward and disciplined enough in terms of defending,” he stated.
In the preliminary stage, Harbour lost to Ciboa and drew with Atletico Pantoja, the two Dominican Republic teams in their group, but Bernard is anticipating that Moca will be more disciplined than those opponents.
“Unlike the other two teams from the Dominican Republic, this team seems to be a little more pragmatic. I would be surprised if they approached this game otherwise, and so we are looking forward to that type of approach from them.”
Nevertheless, Bernard said his team will be fully prepared to undertake the challenge.
“We have a lot of ideas that we want to implement, but we still have some concerns with a few people in terms of injuries, and thus the hesitancy to include a good system immediately. Anybody that plays or starts the game tomorrow should be well equipped to execute in the game,” the Harbour View head coach said.