HARBOUR View’s 5-2 win over Spanish Town Police FC kick-started a new chapter for Coach Vassell Reynolds, who was asked to turn around the faltering fortunes of the former champions.

Harbour View, or Stars of the East as they are known, last won the Jamaica Premier League in 2022, but things are not going according to plan this season as they are sitting in ninth spot on 12 points.

Reynolds, the national under-14 head coach, has taken over the head coaching position at Harbour View, replacing Byjeon Thomas in November. When Reynolds took charge they were 12th on eight points.

In his first two games in charge Reynolds led Harbour View to a 5-2 win over Spanish Town Police last Sunday, then drew 4-4 with leaders Montego Bay United (MBU) on Wednesday.

“We have done a lot of work over the past four weeks [while] anticipating the resumption of the league,” Reynolds told the Jamaica Observer.

“The main focus was to make an effort to stabilise the team in terms of [being] in a better position in the league by year’s end.

“To have been in 12th position during the break was not the kind of position that one wants to be in.”

Harbour View, formed in 1974, are five-time victors of the Jamaica Premier League, winning in 1999-2000, 2006-07, 2009-10, 2012-13, and 2021-2022 to be one of the most successful clubs in the island.

But with worrying statistics of just three wins from 10 games, scoring 17 and conceding 21 times with a negative goal difference of -4, Reynolds has his hands full.

“The club was not ready to accept that sort of position,” Reynolds said. “So our push in terms of the preparation, our push over the past four to five weeks, was to get the team as prepared as possible to have a good run over the next four or five games — which spans the rest of the games for this year — and then we’ll take it from there.

“The first game after the resumption was a good victory. I thought, to have scored five goals at this level against any team is a plus and will give the team some kind of moral boost going forward. What was disappointing, though, for us was to have conceded two late goals — and the manner in which we conceded them. That’s mainly because the bulk of the work that we would have put in over the past few weeks is in relation to the data that would reveal us conceding an average two goals per game. So, to have conceded two goals after leading 4-0 is a little bit of a disappointment.”

Reynolds says the data show a weakness at the back as they were leaking goals at an alarming rate and the tightening of the defence was a priority, hence his disappointment.

But it didn’t stop there, they would concede four more in an eight-goal thriller with leaders MBU.

“But, as I said before, the real aim going into that match was three points to get us going,” Reynolds said. “So, it’s a moral boost and the vibes is good. Hopefully, we can take that into the training sessions leading into our next game and the boys will remain focused and give a good performance.”

However, with the January transfer window approaching, Reynolds said he would be looking to dip into the market to strengthen his team.

“Yes, certainly there are a few areas that we are looking to strengthen,” he said. “However, we generally want to expand on the depth with some additional quality. We’re thinking of players with premier league experience with a mixture of youth.

“So, yes, there are some areas that we have identified that need to be strengthened — and that is part of the plan and discussions that we would have been having over the past week or two.”

Harbour View FC Head Coach Vassell Reynolds