Harbour View…..2

Hamilton (41st), Wellington (88th)

Chapelton……..0

Defending champions Harbour View made a winning start to the defence of their Jamaica Premier League title with a 2-0 win over promoted side Chapleton Maroons at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex on Monday.

Striker Nicholas Hamilton (41st minute) and Ryan Wellington (88th) were the goalscorers for Harbour View.

Harbour View Coach Ludlow Bernard said he was happy for the victory, but conceded that his team could have played a lot better overall, and he specifically rued the squandered chances.

“I feel good for the win, but I am not satisfied with the game that we played,” said Bernard. “We were very tentative in the early stages of the match and that allowed Chapleton to come into the game. I think that we could have done a lot better than this,” he said.

Hamilton gave Harbour View the lead with a beautiful 25-yard shot which went like a rocket past custodian Javel Plunkett.

Despite Hamilton’s first-half strike, it was the Lenworth “Teacher” Hyde-coached Maroons who dominated the period. In fact, the Maroons created a number of clear-cut chances, but they failed to convert.

On one of those occasions, the Maroons’ Osani Ricketts’ powerful shot from 12 yards was spectacularly saved by Harbour View custodian Amal Knight in the 14th minute.

Then Roshane Brown thought he had given the Maroons the lead in the 33rd minute, but after dribbling around Knight inside the 18-yard box, his powerful effort was denied by the crossbar.

However, Harbour View took command of the match in the second stanza as they created several clearcut chances which their attackers failed to convert.

Hamilton, who is a former Holy Trinity High School standout, came close to doubling his team’s advantage in the 74th minute, but after getting by two Maroons defenders inside the box, he shot wide of the target.

Striker Colorado Murray missed a glorious opportunity to add to Harbour View’s lead two minutes when his weak shot from 10 yards went wide of the target.

Harbour View, who ran circles around their opponents in the second period, wrapped up the victory two minutes from time when Wellington headed past Plunkett.

Despite his team’s defeat, Hyde said he was pleased with the efforts.

“This is our first game of the season and I think that we played well. I think that there were a lot of nerves because this is a fairly new team and most of these players would have been playing in the Premier League for the first time,” he said.

— Robert Bailey