Arnett, Portmore to pile more pain on cellar dwellers
LEADERS ARNETT Gardens and secondplace Portmore United are both playing away from home today but are still expected to maintain their advantage at the end of today’s five matches in the Red Stripe Premier League.
Arnett Gardens, the defending champions, will take on the promoted Sandals South Coast, who find themselves in 11th position of the 12-team league with only Boys’ Town beneath them. Sandals South Coast have won just two matches from their 15, both of which were against Boys’ Town, and are not expected to pose much of a threat to the high-riding Arnett Gardens despite playing to a 2-2 draw with their more fancied neighbours, FC Reno.
Portmore United, on the other hand, will meet Boys’ Town, who have managed just one win in their 15 games and have lost all but one of their last five
POINTS STANDING
P W D L GF GA GD Pts Arnett 15 9 6 0 31 13 18 33 Portmore 15 9 4 2 28 8 20 31 Tivoli 15 7 5 3 16 8 8 26 UWI FC 15 6 6 3 18 13 5 24 Reno 15 5 7 3 14 14 0 22 Cavalier 15 5 6 4 16 13 3 21 H.View 15 4 5 6 9 9 0 17 Waterhouse 15 137 5 12 19 -7 16 MoBay 15 4 4 7 11 20 -9 16 H Lion 15 3 6 6 13 18 -5 15 Sandals 15 2 4 9 9 26 -17 10 B.Town 15 1 4 10 11 27 -16 7
games. That one other game was drawn. With that record, Boys’ Town will need almost a miraculous turnaround to trouble Portmore United.
All the other games should be more closely contested, including the one at the Montego Bay Sports Complex where ninthplace Montego Bay United hosts seventh-place Harbour View FC. Both teams are separated by one point and have not been having the best of seasons. Montego Bay were spanked 3-0 by Arnett Gardens midweek, Arnett’s Fabian Reid (front)
while Harbour View fell 1-0 to Cavalier.
Harbour View’s main problem is their inability to find the back of the net, with just nine so far, and they have conceded the same number. Montego Bay United have fared better in front of goal, with 12 strikes, but have not been as good defensively, conceding 19. With Dino Williams expected to return for Montego Bay United, they should be given the edge in this game.
GAME OF THE DAY
In perhaps the game of the day, third-place Tivoli Gardens will entertain fourth-place UWI FC at the Edward Seaga Stadium. Besides home advantage, Tivoli Gardens are enjoying the better form of the two teams, collecting eight points from a possible 15 from their last five games, while UWIFC only managed six.
To their credit, UWI FC boast the competition’s joint-leading scorer in Ryan Miller, with nine goals. Miller’s strikes represents half his team’s goals for the season, and he should expect help from Patrick Brown and Anthony Greenland off the bench. Tivoli Gardens, who relied a lot on Jermaine Johnson and Elton Thompson last season, are, this year, benefiting from the production of Colorado Murray, Andre Moulton, and the very confident Junior McGregor.
At Stadium East, sixth-place Cavalier will be aiming to cement their position in the top half of the table when they host the now Merron Gordon-led Humble Lion FC. Cavalier’s promising season has been largely due to the quality of Chevone Marsh, Alex Marshall, and Nicholas Hamilton. The addition of schoolboys Jaedine White, Jahmoi Topey, and Kaheem Parris have also added to their depth.
Humble Lion are not short on quality with the likes of Ricardo Dennis, Cory Hylton, the experienced Wolry Wolfe, Romario Campbell, Hugh Howell, Hughan Gray, and Andrew Vanzie. If Gordon can get them to click, then they could turn their season around.
TODAY’S GAMES
3 p.m.: Boys’ Town FC vs Portmore United – Barbican Stadium 3 p.m.: Cavalier vs Humble Lion – Stadium East 7 p.m.: Montego Bay United vs Harbour View – Montego Bay Sports Complex 3 p.m.: Sandals South Coast vs Arnett Gardens – Frome Complex 3 p.m.: Tivoli Gardens vs UWI FC – Edward Seaga Complex
IIIIITOMORROW’S GAME
8:35 p.m.: Waterhouse vs Reno – Drewsland Stadium
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