Cavalier, August Town seek victory

With six rounds of matches remaining in the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA)/Claro Super League competition, leaders and defending champions Cavalier, along with second-place August Town, will be aiming to record important victories in today's action.

Cavalier, who lead the standings with 37 points - one ahead of August Town - will play away to bottom-place Duhaney Park (10) at Baldwin Crescent. August Town will tackle Bull Bay (15) at Bull Pen.

The David Laylor-coached Cavalier acquired the services of the league's top marksman, Fabian Nethersole (13 goals), from arch-rivals Santos on Monday, along with the Tivoli Gardens' duo of Jermaine Allen and the well-established Kevin Deerr, who has won the Premier League and other big titles while playing with Portmore United.

They netted a 2-1 win over Duhaney Park earlier in the season, which has boosted their confidence going into the matchup.

slip-up could be costly

"Every game from here on is very important and so we will be treating this game like a final because we are just one point ahead of August Town and so we cannot afford to make any slip-up now," said Laylor.

"We won't be treating them as a bottom-place team because they are fighting for survival and, therefore, this can be a tricky game for us," he said. "We won't be taking them lightly because we need to get all three points from them," Laylor added.

Along with Deerr, Allen and Nethersole, Cavalier will also be depending on Horace Sharpe, a former Premier League player with Arnett and Tivoli Gardens, as well as the industrious Donovan 'Buju' Alvaranga, to lead their charge for victory.

The other main title contender, August Town, who have scored 17 goals in their last five games while conceding a mere three, are expected to get the better of their opponents, who they defeated 1-0 in their previous encounter.

Confident

"The first game was tough for us, but we don't see them doing anything in the league at this point and so I think we should be able to get a victory on Saturday," said Marlon Small, manager of August Town.

"My team is also rounding into form now and the players are very focused because they want to win this competition and move on to the play-offs (Premier League), and so it is going to be very difficult for any of these teams to beat us now," he said.

Commenting on the points situation, Small added: "We have to try and keep it close because they know who is behind them and once they slip up then we will just sneak by them."

August Town will rest their hopes on striker Ricardo Munroe, who has netted six goals in his last five games, along with Aphas Bernard and Gee Daley.

In the day's other fixtures, third-place University of the West Indies (31), who are still in with an outside chance of topping the front-runners, will entertain Rae Town (23) at UWI Bowl; Real Mona (15) will oppose Mountain View United (16) at Excelsior High School; Rockfort (26) will play away to Barbican (18) at Barbican field; and Constant Spring (13) will host Santos (25) at Constant Spring Sports Complex.

- Robert Bailey