W’House eye final
Red-hot Waterhouse FC should secure their place in the Digicel Premier League (DPL) second end-of-round final with a win over cellar team August Town at the UWI Bowl today in a 3:00 pm kick-off.
In other games, leaders Harbour View host Village United; champions Tivoli Gardens travel to the Spanish Town Prison Oval for a meeting with Rivoli United, St Georges SC tackle Portmore United at Lynch Park and Arnett Gardens take on Humble Lions at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.
Waterhouse, third in the DPL with 36 points but out front in the second round with 23 points, are six points ahead of both Boys’ Town and Harbour View on 17 points each.
With only one game remaining after today’s encounter, Waterhouse, nicknamed ‘Fire House’, need only a draw to advance to the final.
But the Geoffrey Maxwell-coach outfit from Drewsland won’t be aiming for a draw as winning the DPL is the bigger picture and will be hunting their 12th win from their last 16 games.
They are three points behind the DPL overall leaders Harbour View on 39 and the same as second-placed Tivoli Gardens.
In form striker Kevin Lamey with 11 goals — six of which came in as many games — will again lead from from the front and August Town will have their hands full in containing the Waterhouse marksman and his fellow raiders.
Pole-sitter Harbour View are favoured to defeat lowly Village United and make a strong push for a spot in the round final.
More importantly, they would want to maintain their overall lead atop the standings and Village United should be in for a torrid time at the min-stadium in east Kingston.
Defending champion Tivoli Gardens face another stern test when they travel to eighth-placed Rivoli United. Out of contention for a place in the end-of-round final, Tivoli will be looking to stay in touch or even overall Harbour View as leaders.
Fifth-placed St Georges on 32 points and seventh-placed Portmore United 22 points, meet in an intriguing encounter involving two teams faltering badly.
St Georges have won just once in their last nine games, while Portmore United are just a little better with two wins. However, both teams have garnered just eight points from nine games in the second round and will be looking to reignite their title ambitions.
St Georges have lost just two games at home all season from 10 matches and it won’t be easy for a struggling Portmore United team. On Sunday, they played with ten men for over 45 minutes and held Tivoli Gardens to a 0-0 draw.
But Portmore are such a talented bunch, that one would expect them to start winning again.
Fourth-placed Boys’ Town on 34 points face a stern test against a sixth-placed Sporting Central Academy on 24 points and looking to close the gap.
Sporting will welcome back the talented National Under-20 striker Alanzo Adlam and he, along with JeVaughn Watson and Onekie Ford, could steal a win at Collie Smith Drive.
Clarendon-based Humble Lions, riding a two-game winning streak, are bubbling with confidence and could continue the miserable run for home team Arnett Gardens.
The promoted Humble Lions (21) sneak past Arnett Gardens (20) into ninth spot and will want to consolidate their position with another win.
Humble Lions are busy in the transfer window acquiring Portmore United and Jamaica’s national goalkeeper Shawn Sawyer along with striker Denzil Watson from Harbour View and should prove hard to beat.
Kevin Mighty and Kimroy Davis, Omar Walters, Zieco Herrera, Sean Coleman, Kirk Duckworth and Narado Brown seemed to have found their footing and should be key factors in Humble Lions push for a win.
Arnett with interim coach Richard ‘Charlie Chaplin’ Bennett at the helm, played well against Village on Sunday but had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
They are desperate for a win and Humble Lions could be in for a hard time in what is expected to be an exciting encounter.
Arnett should welcome back the hard-tackling defender Craig White from a long injury to shore up the backline. It’s crucial that Kevin Wilson, Fabian Davis, Leon Strickland, Kevin King, Nicholas Dodd and Lennox Creary, come with their ‘A’ game to ensure an Arnett win.
DPL table as at January 3, 2009
Team Home Away
P W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts
Harbour View 20 3 4 1 9 9 8 2 1 15 3 12 39
Tivoli Gardens 20 4 3 3 18 11 5 5 0 13 4 16 36
Waterhouse 20 8 1 2 15 8 3 2 4 10 12 5 36
Boys’ Town 20 6 4 0 13 6 3 3 4 6 6 7 34
St George’s SC 20 5 3 1 9 5 3 5 2 6 5 5 32
Sporting Cent 20 3 4 3 9 6 2 5 3 9 11 1 24
Portmore United 20 3 4 4 6 7 2 3 4 5 8 -4 22
Rivoli United 20 4 3 3 15 11 0 6 4 7 11 -1 21
Humble Lions 20 2 4 4 7 10 3 2 5 10 14 -7 21
Arnett Gardens 20 3 2 5 10 12 2 3 5 10 15 -7 20
Village United 20 1 6 3 6 9 1 4 5 7 16 -12 16
August Town 20 3 4 5 10 10 0 3 7 7 22 -15 16
* Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw.
* The bottom two teams will be automatically relegated.
Today’s games
3:00 pm — St Georges vs Portmore United @ Lynch Park; Boys’ Town vs
Sporting Central Academy @ Collie Smith Drive; August Town vs
Waterhouse @ UWI Bowl.
6:00 pm — Rivoli United vs Tivoli Gardens @ Spanish Town Prison
Oval; Arnett Gardens vs Humble Lions @ Anthony Spaulding Sports
Complex.
7:00 pm — Harbour View vs Village @ Harbour View Mini-Stadium.