Lead at stake
THERE will be no Yuletide rest for Premier League clubs as champions Tivoli Gardens host leaders Harbour View in the big top-of-table clash this afternoon.
In the other encounters, Waterhouse host Portmore United; Arnett Gardens and Boys’ Town meet in the Trench Town derby; St Georges travel to Rivoli United; Village tackle Humble Lions and Sporting Central take on August Town.
Defending champions Tivoli Gardens, on 35 points, are in second spot, a point behind Harbour View, on 36, and both will be looking for a win to end the year on top, or to be crowned “Winter Champions”, as the Germans would call it.
Tivoli has bragging rights following their 3-2 win in the first round and should continue their dominance over Harbour View with another win, especially playing at home.
Navion Boyd (seven), Keammar Daley (six), Owen Powell (five) and Roland Dean (four), form the most potent strike force in the league and will prove hard to contain.
National defender Dicoy Williams, along with Christopher Harvey and goalkeeper Dwayne Miller, will have to be at their best to deny the marauding Tivoli frontline.
Meanwhile, in-form Waterhouse should notch their 10th win in their last 15 games against a toothless Portmore United aggregation struggling to score goals.
Fifth-placed Waterhouse, on 30 points, are just six off the leaders after making a remarkable recovery since losing their first five games of the season.
Veteran striker Kevin Lamey with eight goals is second on the goalscoring table behind Devon Hodges’ 12 and will be the man again expected to lead the charge.
Portmore, currently in seventh spot on 21 points, are basically out of the title race, but remain a dangerous team and cannot be taken lightly.
Fourth-placed Boys’ Town, on 30 points, meet their inconsistent and wounded neighbours Arnett Gardens, on 19 points, in the Trench Town derby at Collie Smith Drive.
In their first encounter, Arnett miraculously used nine men to beat Boys’ Town 1-0 for their first win of the season.
But last week, they took a two-goal lead before crumbling 2-4 to bottom team August Town, and their ego and confidence were severely shattered.
Today’s encounter will be a good indicator to whether or not they have recovered, but it should be, as usual, an intriguing contest.
Third-placed St Georges (31) and ninth-placed Rivoli United (17) should also feature in an interesting affair as the matchup pits the league’s top scorer Devon Hodges against arguably the league’s best defender, Jermaine Taylor.
The struggling Village United and Humble Lions are both on 15 points and will be hoping for a win to separate themselves from the relegation zone.
Cellar team August Town (15), under new coach Paul Young, has been showing fairly good form of late and should provide a real fight for Sporting Central (21) at Brancourt.
Today’s games
3:00 pm Boys’ Town vs Arnett @ Boys’ Town
3:00 pm Rivoli vs St Georges @ Prison Oval
3:00 pm Village vs Humble Lions @ Elletson Wakeland
3:00 pm Sporting vs August Town @ Brancourt
5:00 pm Tivoli vs Harbour View @ Seaga Stadium 6:00 pm Waterhouse vs Portmore @ Drewsland