SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine — St Catherine teams DB Basovak and Newlands will meet at the Spanish Town Prison Oval this evening (Wednesday) to contest the second semi-final of the South Central Confederation Super Eight play-offs.

The winner of this encounter, which is set for a 5:00 pm start, will play Jamalco in the final after the Clarendon side thrashed Black Stars 3-0 in the other semi-final on Sunday in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth.

National age-group striker Roshane Sharpe was again the hero for Jamalco. The Garvey Maceo student scored a second-half brace in the 54th and 80th minutes to take his goalscoring tally to seven, while substitute Clinton Ashley added a third in time added.

The championship game is scheduled for this Sunday at a venue to be decided.

For St Catherine, the good thing about the Basovak-Newlands tie is that the parish will definitely have a team in the decider, which — for at least another week — gives them hope of retaining two clubs in next season’s Red Stripe Premier League following the relegation of Portmore United.

Another piece of statistic that will inspire confidence in DB Basovak and Newlands is the fact that St Catherine clubs have won the South Central Super League — longer version of this competition — in four of the last six seasons. However, the thing that will leave both clubs feeling a bit uneasy is the realisation that one of them will play no part in the final.

For the neutrals, that’s probably what will make this game a mouthwatering affair: a parish derby where the winner takes all. And, depending on how one sees it, both sides can lay claim to the favourites tag.

Using the statistics from the recently concluded St Catherine Major League as the supporting argument, Newlands would be the favourites. The Portmore side not only won that competition, they also emerged 3-1 winners over Basovak — who placed fifth — in their only preliminary round meeting.

Yet, were you to use the most recent form of these clubs to inform your decision, DB Basovak would get the vote. The former Premier League campaigners finished the preliminary phase of this competition with the best record of the eight participating teams.

In six games, they tallied 15 points from five wins and one defeat, while conceding a league-low three goals. Their goalscoring tally (12 goals) wasn’t shabby either. In fact, only Black Stars and Jamalco, with 14 each, scored more goals than Basovak.