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HVFC ‘not holding back’ in fight for survival
April 22, 2025
After more than two decades competing in Jamaica's top-flight football league uninterrupted, Harbour View Football Club's place in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) is truly under threat after their 2-1 defeat to Tivoli Gardens FC on Sunday.
The Stars of the East, who have five national titles, have struggled since the start of the 2024-25 campaign and are only sitting outside the relegation zone on goal difference, with 33 points.
Although more accustomed to challenging for titles, technical director Ludlow Bernard said the responsibility falls on the players and coaches to do everything possible to get maximum points from their remaining two matches to ensure their place in the nation's premier club competition.
"The mindset is that we have two games remaining and we have to get maximum points from them. We are not holding back anything. That is exactly what it is right now," Bernard said.
"We are usually challenging (for titles) but if you are at the other end of the spectrum, then we have to continue fighting. Our task as coaches is to get them up, and they have a responsibility to us to see to it that the club remains in the top league," he said.
Harbour View FC will play Vere Phoenix at home, and then Arnett Gardens FC away in their last two games.
Bernard believes they will fare better in those matches, than they did in their previous games against Cavalier and Tivoli, where they only gained a point.
"I was expecting difficulties with Cavalier and Tivoli Gardens. This (Tivoli game) was a game of small margins, and we lost eventually. But I am thinking that with the mindset that we are in and the mode that we are in, which is a survival one, I think we can get by," he insisted.
On Sunday, the team conceded two goals from dead ball situations in their loss to Tivoli Gardens FC.
Barrington Pryce opened the scoring with a header in the 28th minute, and Nichalia Fuller fired home the winner from the penalty spot in the 70th minute, after Colorado Murray had equalised for Harbour View.
Although admitting he knew it would have been a very difficult game, Bernard thought the goals were avoidable.
"We did well with our plan. We tried to hold them out for the first 20 to 25 minutes. We conceded a goal from a set piece and that is one of the areas we emphasised to the group, that we needed to be alert especially for certain people, and especially the goalscorer (Pryce)," he argued.
"On at least two or three occasions he broke away free and we were very fortunate. So I would say it's a lapse in concentration on the set pieces.
"For the second goal we got caught in possession, when clearly it should've been a play that advance the ball further up the pitch. But we lost it in a critical area," Bernard explained.
"Also, coincidentally, the foul that the goalkeeper committed was something similar to what he did in training yesterday (Saturday) morning and I spoke with him about the danger of how he goes in, and, of course, it happened again here today (Sunday) in a three-point situation," he lamented
"I think we did enough to get something out of the game but in the final third, especially with Tivoli open and flinging bodies forward, we should have made better decisions."
With Vere Phoenix already demoted, one other team will join the Clarendon team in tier two football next season.
Harbour View, 11th in the table, are tied on 33 points with Chapelton Maroons and Humble Lion, but lead them on goal difference.
Other teams battling to avoid the drop are Dunbeholden, who lie 10th on 34 points, and Molynes United FC, ninth on 35.
