Robert Scarlett said coming into Real's Wednesday night friendly against his former club that he no longer played for Harbour View and would do everything he could to help Real win.
While the final result was a 1-1 tie at Rice-Eccles Stadium, no one can fault Scarlett. He played provider on RSL's lone goal, which was scored by Nelson Akwari in the 64th minute. That strike neutralized Harbour View's 56th-minute tally by Lovel Palmer.
"That is what I do," Scarlett said of his play. "I just want to get the ball down there and put in a cross that my forward can get to."</p>
Using his blazing speed Scarlett was able to get into the corner all night and send ball after ball in to his teammates. He was a major factor in Real outshooting Harbour View 19-4. But, he wasn't content to just outshoot his former club.</p>
"[My RSL teammates] need to understand me better and I need to understand them," said Scarlett when asked about the lack of finishing on the end of his crosses.</p>
While the inability to capitalize on more shots frustrated RSL coach John Ellinger, he had nothing but praise for Scarlett after the game.</p>
"He is definitely getting better," Elllinger said. "He is mixing up his crosses some are driven, some are floaters, some are near post, some far. Crosses have been a weak spot for us this year and he gives us that."</p>
"That is what he does," added Andy Williams, who played with Scarlett on the Jamaican national team. "He gets the crosses and when he gets a shot, he shoots it. He did his job."</p>
Another part of Scarlett's job description is to give Real another threat on corners and in the 64th minute showed he is quite capable there as well when he connected with Akwari for a scoring strike. Scarlett put the ball up and bent it back in toward the goal where Akwari was able to put a head on it.</p>
"Robert played a great ball," Akwari said. "I just had to get up and get a head on the ball."</p>
David Hale is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
