Despite being a lowly ninth place in the 12-team Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL), Harbour View Head Coach Damion Stewart is hopeful of making the play-offs come the business end of the season.

His team had to come from behind to recuse a point away to the UWI on Sunday, and despite not winning against the team that is now one place above the cellar in 11th place, Stewart was upbeat after the game, which was his fifth one in charge.

“Yea, obviously we came here looking for three points, but I am not going to lie I am more impressed with the improvement of the (players) performance,” he said.

“We are going step by step so hopefully the next game we can get a victory but today I just want to say good performance from the boys,” noted Stewart, a former Reggae Boyz defender.

Stewart, who was a Harbour View standout, said that he has seen improvement in both areas of the game and is expecting things to keep getting better as time goes by.

“[We were better], both in defence and attack, we are defending more as a team and attacking more as a team. We just have to do some more work on that and hopefully over the next few games we can see the results,” he said.

With just 16 match days completed in the 33-game season, “Stew Peas”, as Stewart is affectionately called, is banking on time to be his best friend in order to achieve the club’s main objectives this season.

“I’ve got time; we are not there right now, but there is time, so I hope by the end of the season we are in the top six or even further up. So we’ve got time we are a work in progress so hopefully we can get things sorted.

“Slowly, but surely the players are buying into what I am trying to say and teach them, it looks better game by game so hopefully we will improve in the next game,” Stewart noted.

But while the Harbour View coach was left in a good mood at the end of the game, his counterpart, Andrew Peart, was left ruing mistakes that cost his team two crucial points.

“The way we conceded, I think that that’s just something that keeps haunting us. I would rather Harbour View muster up some great plays…to find an equaliser rather than the way they did because I thought we gave away the ball too easily and that led to their goal,” he mourned.

Peart was, however, impressed with the team’s second-half performance while he lamented the state of the field that showed signs of wear and tear.

“But [it was] impressive performance in the second half for us. I guess the field today had a toll on the players because it was soggy from the rain last night and neither team could seize an advantage in the latter 15 minutes of the game,” he said.

Harbour View will host bottom-of-the-table Vere United at the “Compound” at 8:00 pm tonight, while the UWI will next travel to Effortville for an away game against fourth-place Humble Lion tomorrow.