Waterhouse look to tame leaders Tivoli Gardens (TG)

Nodley Wright, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Former champions Waterhouse will be banking on consistency when they tackle leaders Tivoli Gardens in one of the most attractive games in today's full schedule of Digicel Premier League (DPL) games.

Despite playing good quality football, Waterhouse have not managed to regain the fluency they had in the first round when they marched to the end-of-round final where they were whipped 5-1 by Tivoli Gardens. That was while coach Baris Johnson had walked away from the team. He is now back but things are not the same.

"Today's game is very crucial if we are to really challenge for the title. We really want to finish strong, so that if we do not finish on top at the end of this the third round, then we are not too far from the leaders," assistant coach Xavier Gilbert said.

"It is true that we have not won in our last three games, but if you look at them you will see that we played well against Harbour View. Against Arnett Gardens, we were good in patches but allowed a late goal. Against Humble Lion, we did not play as well as we would have liked but what we have to strive for now is consistency. We have to do the right things consistently and that will be the key," Gilbert reasoned.

dropping points

Tivoli Gardens coach Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey said if his team is to go all the way, they cannot afford to drop any more points. Since the start of this round, Tivoli Gardens have dropped points to Humble Lion and Village United, teams they were expected to beat before playing to a 1-1 draw with Portmore United despite enjoying a numerical advantage for a crucial part of the game.

"One has to take every game seriously and it (the League) is a points thing. We have dropped a lot of points. I told them yesterday that we cannot afford to do that especially in these last four games. They are teams that we will play in the fourth round. If we can win them then it will make our job easier," Bailey argued.

Playing against Waterhouse, he said, is never easy and this is borne out by the regular season games so far. In two regular season meetings so far, Waterhouse have won once while the other was drawn. In their other meeting for the season, they were hammered 5-1 in the end-of-first-round final. Bailey expects today's game to be no different.

"... This season we have had a lot of injuries to key players. We have not had a number of regulars so we have not been able to pull away as we would have liked. Keammar Daley was out for about two months, Victor Thompson, and Kasai Hines are injured.

"Despite that, we are optimistic that we will do well because once they are in the squad I have that confidence in them, and I have always maintained that it is crucial to have a big squad," explained Bailey, who, while he will possibly have Daley back today, will be without Kemar Flemmings and Damion Gordon due to suspensions.

Waterhouse will be at full strength and will again look to goalkeeper Richard McCallum, Vincent Earle, Kenardo Forbes, and Jermaine Anderson for leadership and inspiration.

inconsistent

At Drax Hall, Arnett Gardens will be hoping to reverse Wednesday's loss to St Georges when they play away to Benfica, the team now occupying the bottom of the table.

Harbour View have had the better of the inconsistent Boys' Town all season and will be hoping that things continue that way today. For this to happen, the Stars of the East will have to improve on their goalscoring.

Reno will have the opportunity to cement themselves in the top six with a win over Village United while pushing the Trelawny-based team closer to the relegation zone. A loss for Village, and another win for St Georges who host Humble Lion, will leave St Georges just one point behind 10th place Village in the 12-team league.

Third-place Portmore United cannot afford to fall off the pace while Sporting Central will not want to be caught in net of the bottom half of the table battling relegation. This makes the Clarendon derby even more interesting.

Today's games

3:30 p.m Benfica vs Arnett Gardens - Drax Hall

3:30 p.m: Reno vs Village United - Frome Complex

3:30 p.m: Sporting Central vs Portmore United - Brancourt

4:30 p.m: Harbour View vs Boys' Town- Harbour View Stadium

6:30 p.m: St Georges vs Humble Lion - Lynch Park

6 p.m: Waterhouse vs Tivoli Gardens - Drewsland Stadium