TG, Harbour View clash to highlight Round Two of RSPL
Local football fans will have to wait a few more days to see Waterhouse FC debut in the 2014-15 Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) season.
While the other teams will be ready to play Round Two RSPL matches today or tomorrow, Waterhouse, with ambitions of progressing from the group stage in the CONCACAF Club Championship, will host Major League Soccer (MLS) team DC United at the National Stadium on Tuesday.
That CONCACAF fixture has forced the postponement of the RSPL blockbuster between Waterhouse, last season’s runners-up, and the reigning champions Montego Bay United at the Drewsland Stadium. The Waterhouse-Montego Bay game is now slated to be played on Thursday, starting at 6:00 pm.
Waterhouse were also missing in action in the opening round after their clash with rookie outfit Barbican FC was postponed because the former had five players locked in international duty away to Canada.
In a match featuring a debutant of another kind, Barbican FC, first-time entrants to top-tier football, travel to Collie Smith Drive to face seasoned Boys’ Town FC in a 3:30 pm kick-off.
Boys’ Town FC were swept aside 0-3 in their opening round game away to Clarendon-based Sporting Central Academy.
In an encounter of which much fireworks are expected, a pair of former champions Tivoli Gardens FC and Harbour View FC square off at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex in West Kingston, beginning at 3:30 pm.
Harbour View, champions in the 2012-13 season, went down 0-1 in a tight contest versus visitors Arnett Gardens FC in Round One, while Tivoli, most previously winners in 2010-11, held Humble Lion FC to a 1-1 scoreline in Clarendon.
Former powerhouses Reno FC, making a return to the Premier League after earning promotion in the summer, welcome Humble Lion to the Frome Complex in Westmoreland in another match starting at 3:30 pm.
In a 5:00 pm start at the Stadium East facility, Cavalier SC entertain Sporting Central Academy.
Sporting Central had an emphatic start to the campaign, blanking Boys’ Town, while Cavalier were relatively inconspicuous in the 1-1 result against Rivoli United at the Bramwell Clarke Complex in Ewarton.
In tomorrow’s flagship Monday Night fixture set to commence at 9:15 pm, Arnett Gardens FC host Rivoli at the Stadium East field.
Arnett, one of only two winners in the opening round, are in the midst of a six-game home field ban, handed down at the end of last season after their supporters were involved in an ugly and dangerous bottle throwing incident at the final whistle of the second-leg semi-final loss to Waterhouse at the Anthony Spaulding Complex in May.
RSPL games today
3:30 pm – Boys’ Town vs Barbican @ Collie Smith Complex
3:30 pm – Reno vs Humble Lion @ Frome Complex
3:30 pm – Tivoli Gardens vs Harbour View @ Edward Seaga Complex
5:00 pm – Cavalier vs Sporting Central @ Stadium East
RSPL game tomorrow
9:15 pm – Arnett Gardens vs Rivoli United @ Stadium East
Rescheduled RSPL game on Thursday
6:00 pm – Waterhouse vs Montego Bay @ Drewsland Stadium