KINGSTON, Jamaica – Montego Bay United earned a bye through to the semi-finals of the Jamaica Premier League despite being outscored 4-3 by Harbour View in their third round game played at Harbour View on Sunday.

With third-placed Portmore United’s loss to Arnett Gardens, the leage leaders cannot finish below second place at the end of the regular season and will sit out the quarterfinal stage.

Meanwhile, Spanish Town Police were officially relegated back to the Jamaica Football Championships after they were beaten 6-2 by Chapelton Maroons and will finish at the foot of the table.

Despite the gap between the two teams, Montego Bay at the top and Harbour View fighting to prevent relegation, the western Jamaica club have not beaten the ‘Stars of the East’ this season, the first two games ending in draws.

On Sunday, Harbour View led 3-0 after 42 minutes – an own goal in the seventh minute put them in the lead before Roderick Granville and Rohan Brown added two more goals late in the first half.

However, Montego Bay stormed back midway the second half with Richardo Ramsey scoring a double in the 65th and 68th minutes.

Brown then scored in the 73rd minute to give Harbour View a 4-2 lead before MoBay’s Nashordo Gibbs came off the bench to cut the deficit to one in the 89th minute.

Defending champions Cavalier kept their hold on sixth place on 55 points after beating a floundering Racing United 2-0 at Stadium East, Kimarly Scott scoring in the 63rd and Christopher Ainsworth in the 70th minute.
The loss was another blow to Racing’s hopes of a place in the play-offs as Cavalier moved to within a point on 56 points with Arnett Gardens also not far off.

Arnett bolstered their chances with a 2-1 win over Portmore United at Ferdie Neita Park with Fabian Reid giving them the lead in the 20th minute and Kevaughn Wilson scoring the second in the 38th minute.

Ronaldo Robinson pulled a goal back for Portmore in the 54th minute as three players were shown red cards late in the game – Portmore’s pair of Santana Headley – who was shown a second yellow card in the 88th minute – and Tarick Ximines , who was sent off in time added on; and Arnett’s Jamone Sheperd who was ejected four minutes into time added.

Leaunghn Williams scored four times for Chapelton in their 6-2 win over Spanish Town with Ray Campbell and Daniel Scarlett also scoring before Devontay Ricketts and Jordan Elliston added consolation goals for Spanish Town late in the game.

Treasure Beach continued their fight against relegation with a 1-0 win over Dunbeholden FC at the STETHS Sports Complex, Jahein Harris scoring the lone goal in the eighth minute.

Sunday’s Results
Treasure Beach-1, Dunbeholden FC-0
Harbour View-4, Montego Bay United-3
Portmore United-1, Arnett Gardens-2
Chapelton Maroons-6, Spanish Town Police-2
Cavalier SC-2, Racing United-0

Monday’s games
Molynes United vs Tivoli Gardens- stadium east 5:00pm
Mt Pleasant FA vs Waterhouse FC- Drax Hall 7:30pm
-Paul A Reid