Harbour View and Arnett Gardens played out a 1-1 draw in their first-leg quarter-final in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) on Monday at Sabina Park.

Trayvone Reid had given Harbour View the lead on the stroke of half-time, only for man-of-the-moment Marlon Allen to draw Arnett level in the 79th minute to set up an interesting return leg on Thursday at the same venue.

With Renaldo Cephas no longer an option, the Arnett Gardens attack lacked the usual venom which Harbour View took full advantage of as they blunted the usually fast-flowing attack of the ‘Junglists’.

At the other end of the pitch, Reid, Harbour View’s most lethal attacker this season, had the Arnett defenders backing up with his deft dribbles and silky skills. His markers had difficulty guessing which direction he would go in after his stepover moves, luring them into repeated fouls.

A few chances did fall the way of Arnett Gardens and their experienced striker Fabian Reid should have found the back of the net on at least one occasion, but he headed over from point blank range. Allen’s tame attempt at a lob left the Arnett fans frustrated and their frustrations grew even more when the Stars of the East took the lead in the 45th minute.

Reid lulled his marker Earl Simpson into making a rash challenge in the box, forcing referee Christopher Mason to award a penalty kick. He then picked himself up to send Eric Edwards the wrong way and give Harbour View the lead going into the break.

Harbour View then came out in the second half on the front foot and created most of the chances but failed to add to their advantage.

Colorado Murray was left cursing his luck when he missed an empty goal and a brilliant opportunity to put his team two goals up.

He and Harbour View would live to rue that miss when Allen, who has hit a rich vein of form in front of goal, outmuscled Shamari Dyer before steering the ball home from inside the area to level with 11 minutes left on the clock.

Odorland Harding threatened to put Harbour View back in front late on, but Edwards was alert to avert the danger at his near post.

Kimani Arbouine probably should have crossed to a teammate, but chose to shoot from an acute angle and missed the frame entirely, as the minutes ticked away.

The two teams will have 90 more minutes on Thursday to force their way into the semi-finals which start on Sunday.

— Dwayne Richards