TUCKER, St James — Montego Bay United snapped a five-game winless run with an effortless 2-0 win over Harbour View at WesPow Park on Sunday to complete their regular season schedule and to now prepare for the semi-finals against defending champions Arnett Gardens.

Owayne Gordon continued his rich scoring run, giving Montego Bay United the lead with his league-leading 19th goal in the 36th minute before substitute Kashief Brown added a second in the 69th minute.

Montego Bay United finished in third place overall on 59 points, just two behind regular season winners Portmore United with Arnett Gardens in second on 60 points and Humble Lion rounding out the semi-finalists with 50 points.

Following their recent dismal performances after being the first team to qualify for the semi-finals, coach Paul ‘Tegat’ Davis was pleased with his team’s performance on Sunday.

“This win must have done something (positive) for us,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “After losing three straight, it is good to win again; we have a little more work to do, especially with the minds of the players (going into the semi-finals).”

A number of regular starters were held put of the game and top striker Dino Williams was substituted after just 30 minutes with a leg injury and Davis said they had their fair share of physical injuries but the main job was to work on the mental aspect of the players going into what he said would be a tough semi-final.

One positive was the return of midfielder Fabion McCarthy, who missed most of the season after being sidelined since September, having undergone a knee operation. He played 25 minutes on Sunday.

“McCarthy will need some more conditioning work but he can help the team,” Davis said. “But we will work with him to get him ready. We had hoped to give him about 10 minutes today but he got more than that.”

Harbour View’s Ludlow Bernard rued what could have been after they finished in sixth place after being in a position to take a semi-final place but let it slip.

“We got into good positions,” he told the Observer. “We were in fourth at one stage then dropped points. Look at the statistics, we drew 13 games, had we won three of those games we would have been in the semis,” he lamented.

The season, he said, has been “very inconsistent”, and he added that they needed to look at putting together a better pre-season and get players who could go far into the season.

“One of the good things that worked for us was the injection of younger players in the middle of the season. They took us to a position from which we could challenge for a semi-final place,” he said. Looking forward, he said, “we must ensure we have a core of 15-16 players until we get back the youngsters…we also lost players who got opportunities to take up contracts overseas that also would have hampered us, but we can’t use that as an excuse.”

Sunday’s game barely got out of first gear after the first 25 minutes as both teams could not improve their positions, but Montego Bay United created several early scoring chances as Williams, Gordon and Allan Ottey were all wayward, while goalkeeper Mark Bryan also made several good saves.

Gordon finally made the breakthrough in the 36th minute when he latched onto a rebound on the left side of the 18-yard area and lashed it back into the far corner of the goal.

He could have made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute when he caught Bryan in a one-on-one situation but tried to dribble around the goalkeeper who managed to recover and hold on to the ball.

Brown, who replaced Williams in the first half, put his hands up for a place in the rotation when he skipped around Bryan in the 69th minute and curled the ball into the goal from an acute angle before celebrating with the West Indies’ ‘Champion’ dance.

Teams: Montego Bay United — Owayne Gordon, Dino Williams (Kashief Brown 31st), Allan Ottey, Nicodie Haughton, Cory Hylton (Fabion McCarthy 66th), Keniel Kirlew, Kemar Drake, Ladale Richie, Lesly St Fleur, Orlando McBayne (Donovan Carey-60th), David SwabySubs not used: Romaine Bowers, Jason McLean, Ronaldo Rodney, Winston WilkinsonBooked: Kirlew (63rd)Harbour View — Mark Bryan, Rosario Harriott, Odaine Samuels, Fabian Grant (Hugh Evans 83rd), Evan Taylor, Nicholas Beckett, Rojay Smith, Claudius Blackburn, Bryan English, Ranique Muir (Joel Senior 55th), Ahmard Duncombe (Dejanni Isaacs 66th)Subs not used: Akeem Smith, Thorne Buchanan, Demarley OliverBooked: Senior (68th)Referee: Gawayne ScottAssistant Referees: Ojay Duhaney, Sean WrightFourth Official: Daneon ParchmentMatch Commissary: Gregory Daley

Teams: Montego Bay United — Owayne Gordon, Dino Williams (Kashief Brown 31st), Allan Ottey, Nicodie Haughton, Cory Hylton (Fabion McCarthy 66th), Keniel Kirlew, Kemar Drake, Ladale Richie, Lesly St Fleur, Orlando McBayne (Donovan Carey-60th), David Swaby

Subs not used: Romaine Bowers, Jason McLean, Ronaldo Rodney, Winston Wilkinson

Booked: Kirlew (63rd)

Harbour View — Mark Bryan, Rosario Harriott, Odaine Samuels, Fabian Grant (Hugh Evans 83rd), Evan Taylor, Nicholas Beckett, Rojay Smith, Claudius Blackburn, Bryan English, Ranique Muir (Joel Senior 55th), Ahmard Duncombe (Dejanni Isaacs 66th)

Subs not used: Akeem Smith, Thorne Buchanan, Demarley Oliver

Booked: Senior (68th)

Referee: Gawayne Scott

Assistant Referees: Ojay Duhaney, Sean Wright

Fourth Official: Daneon Parchment

Match Commissary: Gregory Daley