Pumped Harbour View brace for third-place battle with Moca
Despite missing out on the final of the Concacaf Caribbean Cup, Harbour View FC will be looking to finish the campaign on a high as they battle Dominican Republic’s Moca FC in the first leg of the third-place play-off at Sabina Park today at 6:00 pm.
The ‘Stars of the East’ were humbled 5-0 on aggregate by fellow Jamaican club Cavalier in the semi-finals recently and are winless in their last six matches, including their five Wray & Nephew Jamaica Premier League encounters this season.
Harbour View haven’t found much success against Dominican Republic opposition either as, in the group stage of the competion, they lost to Cibao FC 2-1 on October 5 and drew 1-1 with Atletico Pantoja.
However, Head Coach Ludlow Bernard is hoping that third time’s the charm.
“Unlike the other two opponents from the Dominican Republic, this team tends to be a little more pragmatic. I’d be surprised if they were to approach this game otherwise so we’re looking forward to that kind of approach from them. We just hope on the day the players will be disciplined going forward and disciplined enough in terms of defending,” he said.
Bernard wasn’t overly confident following Tuesday’s training session at Sabina Park but believes his team will give a good showing regardless.
“We had a lot of ideals that we wanted to implement at the last minute that time didn’t allow. We still have concerns with a few people in terms of injuries hence the hesitancy to really get to a good system immediately, but I think that anybody who plays or starts the game tomorrow will be well-equipped to execute the game.”
“We want to leave Jamaica with an advantage, so already I am declaring my intent for this game but we’ll be very prudent in terms of how we do it, just to ensure we don’t concede or in no way at all become threatened by the opposition.”
Moca FC, who lost on penalties in their semi-final clash with Suriname’s Robinhood, have lost only twice in this season’s competition. One of those was a 3-0 defeat to Cavalier at the National Stadium on September 19.
