Leaders look to consolidate

Ryon Jones, Staff Reporter

Three-time champions, Harbour View, are looking to consolidate their position atop the Red Stripe Premier League, and are in pole position to cop their fourth title. They have established an eight-point lead over title holders Portmore United, going into the third round, which gets under way tomorrow with five matches.

Habour View, who lead the 12-team standings on 45 points, will host fourth place Montego Bay United (34) at the Harbour View Stadium, with kick-off set for 6:30 p.m.

"You can't sit down and expect that the eight point lead will stay; we have to perform like the next game is a championship game and consolidate the lead," Harbour View's head coach Vin Blaine told Star Sports.

"Eight points is fickle, you lose two games straight and you are back to two points, saying that the other team close to you wins.

"We have to go in there (the game) with a positive frame of mind and know what our responsibilities are going into this third round."

Montego Bay United's head coach, Dr Dean Weatherly, has other plans and believes his team can overhaul the 11 point deficit between themselves and the leaders.

"The plan is still there to win the league, but we have to dig in, put in some hard work and change a few things that we thought let us down in the last round and move forward," Weatherly said.

"This is the round where you can make a last ditch effort at the title and set yourself up so that if you are not in the lead, you are not too far from the leaders.

"We definitely have to try and get some points off the leaders, so in the end we will be carving out our own way and go for it in the fourth round."

Since making a return to the league last season, Montego Bay United, formerly known as Seba, is yet to get the better of the Stars of the East in five meetings. Harbour View has recorded two victories, while three of the games ended in draws, with the last coming in the previous round when they played to a 0-0 stalemate.

"They (Montego Bay United) run a lot, so we have to ensure that we contain them, but we are quite fit ourselves and the players are up for the challenge," Blaine said.

"There is no particular aspect of their game that we are afraid of or concerned about. It is just for us to put away our chances when we get them, because our record of not conceding goals is the best in the league."

Harbour View has scored 34 goals in 22 games, while conceded 10. Montego United have conceded twice as many (20) while scoring 26. Blaine would, however, love for his team, who made it to both the first and second end-of-round-finals to score more goals.

"We need to work on our concentration going into games, because I think we dropped a couple stupid points," Blaine said.

"We didn't do as well in the second round as we did in the first round and we have to correct that."

Harbour View have bolstered their squad in the January transfer window, with the addition of Xavian Virgo from Boys' Town, who is likely to make his debut tomorrow, Brian Brown from Montego Bay United and Nickoy Christian from Portmore United.

Montego Bay United have also added three players during the window, with Aldaine Grant, Ronaldo Rodney and Mouricio Gordon all coming over from Portmore United. According to Weatherly none of them are in line to debut tomorrow.

VAN TAYLOR

Harbour View

Age: 24

Position: Central midfielder

High School Attended: Godfrey Stewart High

Greatest achievement in football to date: Winning the daCosta Cup in 2005 with Godfrey Stewart when they defeated Glenmuir 3-0

Favourite international club: Manchester United

Notes: Has 11 national caps

Played two World Cup qualifiers for Jamaica in 2008 against Mexico and Canada

Scored one of the goals of the seasons with his strike from his own half against Boys' Town

Dino Williams

Montego Bay United

Age: 22

Position: Striker

Past School: Green Pond

Past Clubs: Village United and Montego Bay United

Notes:

Has scored three goals so far this season.

Scored 10 goals in the Premier League for Village United last season, but it was not enough to save them from being relegated.

He has also previously represented Salt Spring Roses in the St James Division One at age 14.

Williams has four senior national caps and has also represented the country at the Under-20 and Under-23 levels.

He made a belated start to the current premier league season, as he was on his first stint overseas where he helped United States-based Charleston Battery to the United Soccer Leagues title. This is the second tier professional competition in North America, below Major League Soccer.