KINGSTON, Jamaica— Ten-man Harbour View overcame one of the form teams of the Jamaica Premier League in Arnett Gardens, to advance to the semi-finals of the competition, following an 8-7 penalty shootout win in the second leg of their quarter-final tie at Sabina Park, Thursday night.

Following their 1-1 draw in the first leg on Monday, the teams played out a similar 1-1 draw at the end of regular and extra-time on Thursday. It then took sudden death in the penalty shootout to decide the contest as Harbour View, who finished the regular season in 6th place, overcame a confident Arnett Gardens team that had finished 3rd.

Harbour View took the lead in the 33rd minute when defender Shamari Dyer stabbed home a rebound from a free kick only for Earl Simpson to level things for Arnett Gardens in the 67th minute, following a melee in the box.

Harbour View were then reduced to 10 men when Jahshawn Anglin was ejected after receiving a second yellow card forcing the Stars of the East to play almost 20 minutes of regular time plus 30 minutes of extra time a man short.

Head coach of Harbour View, Ludlow Bernard, thinks that the quality of his squad is what allowed them to overcome the challenge against Arnett.

“I think it has to do with the quality and the versatility of the personnel that we have that we can shuffle players into the various positions.

“I must give a lot of credit to my fitness trainers who have prepared the team for this kind of adventure. This team is a very disciplined team in terms of when you give them instructions and even when players are asked to play out of position, they will do it for the team.”

The good vibe in the dressing room is also a factor in the upswing in form Bernard disclosed.

“The team vibe and the team chemistry are so excellent at the moment that they believe that they can do anything.”

Harbour View have been a different team late in the season and Bernard was able to identify exactly when it is that things took a turn for the better for his side.

“It was happening from we played Montego Bay United. At that time, we introduced Phillon Lawrence to the team and that was probably one of the final pieces to the jigsaw puzzle. We knew we had the players, but at no time throughout the course of the season we couldn’t get that combination on the pitch.

“Starting the Montego Bay game, we got it right and we got the personnel, and we have a front set of persons who can devastate defenses, and who can threaten them seriously and that is what we need. We need that cutting edge.

“We made one adjustment in taking out Sean Daley and bringing in Timar Lewis, who is a very seasoned campaigner and he added to the stability of the midfield, so it’s a matter of experimenting all season and finally getting it right,” he explained.

He also revealed that his team felt confident that they could overcome Arnett in a penalty shootout after their training session the day before the key game.

“We were very sure as to what the outcome would have been. We thought that once we scored ours, we probably expected (Anthony) Bennett to save one, but I think the pressure was too much for the Arnett Gardens player (Kimani Arbouine) that booted over the bar.”

With Waterhouse resting while they have had to play two grueling quarterfinal matches, Bernard knows that is it going to be important to have his players fully recovered for their first semi-final.

“Motivation is a key factor in all of this, but our recovery efforts will have to be very, very organized. Our recovery is going to be very critical because we are going to be coming up against a well-rested Waterhouse team, but I am looking forward to that game.”

Regular season winners, Waterhouse, need to know that they will be in for a game from Harbour View.

“We are here to compete, and we are here to play some good football and we are here to win, most importantly,” Bernard said.

Interestingly, Bernard is hoping to have his team can pull an “Arnett Gardens” and go all the way this term.

“That was something I said to the group many times in training sessions that there was a season when Arnett finished 6th in the regular season and went on to win and I think this a part of the driving force because I think they are getting it together now and they are really beginning in themselves right now,” he concluded.

Harbour View and Waterhouse will lock horns in the first leg of their semi-finals at Sabina Park starting at 5:15 pm today.