Tweet
Waterhouse, Harbour View to do battle <DIV class=KonaBody>
By Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
Harbour View coach Lenworth Hyde. - contributed
Two teams have stood out as the best in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League this season.
Harbour View and Waterhouse stand head and shoulders above their competition and now it is time for them to play not for points, not for the $165,000 on offer, but for pride of place.
Each team wants the undeniable right to call themselves the best in the league, at least at this stage. For Harbour View, who have led the league for the most part, that task looks uphill.
The last time that Harbour View got one over on Waterhouse in a final came all the way back in December 2004, when they had Jomo Gordon as a striker who came off the bench.
Gordon, then went to Waterhouse and helped his team defeat Harbour View the next time they met in a final in January of this year. While Gordon is in transition at the moment and not playing for either team, the trend is very clear.
Waterhouse have been getting the better of Harbour View in recent times. As defending champions, they have to continue to prove they have the advantage and after coming from behind 'The Stars of the East' to take the title last season, they aren't short of confidence.
This season they have continued in the same vein. Waterhouse have remained the only unbeaten team in the competition, failing to win on just four occasions.
That kind of form has meant only one thing, as their coach, Barrington 'Cobra' Gaynor explains:
"We are confident but we are not over confident because we know what that can cause. We are bolstered by the fact that we are the Premier League leaders," he said.
Harbour View on the other hand, have an opportunity to exact some revenge on Waterhouse, dispatching them in like manner to the way they were thwarted in the last edition of the same final.
Less than flattering
However, their recent form has been less than flattering.
Harbour View first had two draws that allowed Waterhouse to pass them in the standings before being thrashed 4-0 by Tivoli Gardens in a less than gratifying 90 minutes of football.
However, Gaynor doesn't think that this will matter.
"I don't think that (Harbour View/Tivoli game) will have any bearing on the final," he said.
"This is for bragging rights and money," he added.
Harbour View coach Lenworth Hyde doesn't expect his team to play dead either, indicating that they are long over their last blemish.
"We are full of confidence. The Tivoli match is long gone and we've already licked our wounds," he said.
However, the coach who won the Premier League with Portmore United and is revered as arguably one of the best to ever play the game on local soil, knows that his task is a tough one.
"The Waterhouse team plays for everything. They put their heart into it and that is what we have to do too. They are a hard running team and they play hard football and we have to match up with them in that department, if we don't we'll lose," he warned.
That task will be made even harder with the fact that Harbour View will be missing Lenworth Hyde Jnr. and Gregory Simpson from their line up. To their credit they will welcome the return of Jermaine Taylor and Oneil 'Bigga' Smith to help their beleaguered back line. </DIV>