Jamalco poised for huge victory

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Defending champions Jamalco are expected to blow away Tivoli Gardens 'B' in their quarter-final match in the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) Berger Paints Super League competition at the Leila Robinson Courts today, starting at 3:30 p.m.

In other quarter-final games, G.C. Foster Strikers 'A' will oppose Tivoli Gardens A at 4 p.m., Windalco tackle Arnett Gardens at 4:50 p.m. and Waulgrovians 'A' await Mico at 5:20 p.m.

Jamalco, who are seeking their eighth straight hold on the trophy, finished atop the preliminary standings with 27 points, three ahead of Tivoli A (24) and Waulgrovians 'A' (21). They were followed by Windalco (18), Arnett Gardens (16), Mico (12), G.C. Foster Strikers 'A' (nine) and Tivoli 'B', who ended in last place on six points.

The Winston Nevers-coached Jamalco, who recorded a comfortable victory over Tivoli when the teams met in the preliminary round of the competition, said, despite being very confident, they will not be taking their opponents for granted.

knockout stage

"It won't be an easy game because any Tivoli team is always a good team and so we won't be taking them lightly," said Nevers.

"We are going into the game with a strong team because this is the knockout stage and so we are going to have to play very hard to win."

He added: "We have been playing very well at this point of the season because our defensive and offensive units have been playing the way how we want them to play and things are looking very bright for us.

"We are aiming to stay unbeaten in the league and in the process to win our eighth straight title and so we will be going all out to achieve this."

The Clarendon-based team is much more experienced than their opponents and will be relying on national representatives Nadine Bryan, Sasher-Gaye Henry, Nicole Aiken and former national captain, Elaine Davis, as well as Kamieka Sherwood.

Meanwhile, Tivoli's coach, Christopher Campbell, admited that it is going to be very difficult to defeat their opponents, but admitted they were going to do their best.

"We're going to give it our best shot and ensure that we score off our centre-passes and if we convert them, then we should be in contention," said Campbell, who is also the coach of the Tivoli 'A' team.

He added: "We just have to apply ourselves because we've been in the quarter-finals before and we have done pretty well and so I am expecting a good showing from my team."

The west Kingston-based team will rest their hopes in the hands of national Under-16 representative, Sade Ffrence, along with captain Patricia Chambers, Shelly-ann Bryan and Marva Berriffe.