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Harbour View's Jureidini bemoans drawn games
published: Tuesday | April 8, 2008
Ainsley Walters, Freelance Writer
Harbour View striker Kavin Bryan - file
CLYDE JUREIDINI, general manager of defending Cash Plus Premier League champions, Harbour View, yesterday said his team's hopes of retaining their title has been hurt by too many drawn games, similar to the 1-1 stalemate against leaders Portmore United on Sunday.
Roen Nelson struck in the 90th minute to snatch victory from Harbour View after speedy Kavin Bryan had put the homesters ahead in the 63rd minute.
It was the third time in four games that Harbour View led and faltered, bringing their total number of drawn games this season to 14, equalling third-place Boys' Town and 10th-place Reno, only bettered by next-to-last Arnett Gardens' 17 stalemates.
The draw moved Harbour View to 44 points in fourth place, well off leaders Portmore on 58 and second-place Tivoli, 56, with seven games left in the Premiership race.
"It's not all lost but getting pretty close," Jureidini said yesterday. We now have 44 points and the leaders 58, a 14-point difference, and we can only achieve 15 points in the last round.
Lessen the gap
"Last night was one of those games we wanted to win to lessen that gap between ourselves and Portmore, in addition to improving our head-to-head match-ups with them.
"We have now played them three times and all three games ended in draws," Jureidini pointed out, blaming "defensive errors at a crucial point in the game" for the draw.
Jureidini said Sunday's last-minute draw significantly lessened the chances of his team staging a late rally, with just two games left in the crucial third round before the top six teams play each other for the title in the fourth round.
"We wanted a win badly, as we needed to improve our head-to-head with Portmore so in case of a tie we would have that in our advantage in the fourth round," he explained.
Under the league format, head-to-head clashes count ahead of goal difference then overall goals scored are taken into consideration should there still be a tie.
Points difference
"That's why we wanted to win, to have that advantage plus reduce the points difference with the leaders," he added.
The Harbour View manager dismissed suggestions that not searching for new players outside the club this season has contributed to their feeble showing.
"Definitely not," he said. "Talent has not been our problem. We've won three trophies this year, the Jackie Bell, Club Championship and the pre-season President's Cup, plus we're in the quarter-finals of the all-island knockout.
"We're just not consistent in the league, throughout the season, as we normally are. "The game last night showed there is no team superior to us. We have just had poor results and drawn so many games. We've been leading games, like last night, and end up drawing matches we should have won," he said.
published: Tuesday | April 8, 2008
Ainsley Walters, Freelance Writer
Harbour View striker Kavin Bryan - file
CLYDE JUREIDINI, general manager of defending Cash Plus Premier League champions, Harbour View, yesterday said his team's hopes of retaining their title has been hurt by too many drawn games, similar to the 1-1 stalemate against leaders Portmore United on Sunday.
Roen Nelson struck in the 90th minute to snatch victory from Harbour View after speedy Kavin Bryan had put the homesters ahead in the 63rd minute.
It was the third time in four games that Harbour View led and faltered, bringing their total number of drawn games this season to 14, equalling third-place Boys' Town and 10th-place Reno, only bettered by next-to-last Arnett Gardens' 17 stalemates.
The draw moved Harbour View to 44 points in fourth place, well off leaders Portmore on 58 and second-place Tivoli, 56, with seven games left in the Premiership race.
"It's not all lost but getting pretty close," Jureidini said yesterday. We now have 44 points and the leaders 58, a 14-point difference, and we can only achieve 15 points in the last round.
Lessen the gap
"Last night was one of those games we wanted to win to lessen that gap between ourselves and Portmore, in addition to improving our head-to-head match-ups with them.
"We have now played them three times and all three games ended in draws," Jureidini pointed out, blaming "defensive errors at a crucial point in the game" for the draw.
Jureidini said Sunday's last-minute draw significantly lessened the chances of his team staging a late rally, with just two games left in the crucial third round before the top six teams play each other for the title in the fourth round.
"We wanted a win badly, as we needed to improve our head-to-head with Portmore so in case of a tie we would have that in our advantage in the fourth round," he explained.
Under the league format, head-to-head clashes count ahead of goal difference then overall goals scored are taken into consideration should there still be a tie.
Points difference
"That's why we wanted to win, to have that advantage plus reduce the points difference with the leaders," he added.
The Harbour View manager dismissed suggestions that not searching for new players outside the club this season has contributed to their feeble showing.
"Definitely not," he said. "Talent has not been our problem. We've won three trophies this year, the Jackie Bell, Club Championship and the pre-season President's Cup, plus we're in the quarter-finals of the all-island knockout.
"We're just not consistent in the league, throughout the season, as we normally are. "The game last night showed there is no team superior to us. We have just had poor results and drawn so many games. We've been leading games, like last night, and end up drawing matches we should have won," he said.
