Battle on to remain in Premier League

Nodley Wright, Sunday Gleaner Writer

All eyes will be on the middle of Digicel Premier League table today as three teams will be battling for the precious sixth place at the end of today's action which will signal the end of the third round.

A place in the top six will guarantee survival for the Premier League next season while the bottom six will scrap it out to avoid relegation. The top five leaders Tivoli Gardens, Boys' Town, Harbour View, Portmore United and Waterhouse are already assured of a place in next year's top flight while the trio of Reno, Village United and Arnett Gardens are competing for the remaining place.

Westmoreland's Reno are currently in sixth position the same as seventh-place Village United and eighth-place Arnett Gardens. All three teams are on 40 points but Reno have a superior goal difference. However, Reno's position is not one to be envied as they face the toughest challenge of the three.

Reno's task is to beat the leaders Tivoli Gardens, 60 points. Tivoli enjoy a five-point lead over Boys' Town and will not want to have their lead reduced as they go into the crucial half round where they will only compete against the top six teams. What makes Reno's task even more difficult is the fact that they will be playing away from home and will be doing so without their top guns.

Unavailable players

The competition's leading scorer Craig Foster is currently in Brazil with the country's Under-20 team preparing for the CONCACAF round of the Under-20 World Cup qualifiers. National representative O'Brian Woodbine is also unavailable. Coach Wendell Downswell is still positive about avoiding the bottom of the table scrap.

"The last time we played them at our home we won the game, so with that we have some level of confidence into the game," said Downswell.

"We will be very tight defensively, that will be the first and foremost and at the same time try and get an early goal to try and put the pressure on them," he added.

Tivoli's Glendon "Admiral" Bailey will be eager for his team to continue their unbeaten streak and maintain their advantage as they march towards the title.

"One has to take every game seriously and it (the League) is a points thing. We have dropped a lot of points. I made them know that we cannot afford to do that especially in these last games," Bailey said recently. His position has not changed.

With Navion Boyd getting back to his best Bailey will also be looking to Keammar Daley who returns to the team today after another layoff. These two along with Roland Dean are capable of ripping apart any defensive unit.

Not worried

Village United are also fancying their chance against St Georges despite the fact that they are playing away from home.

"I am not worried about how Reno do at Tivoli, once I get this win from St Georges it can tell us automatically that we are almost there, in terms of securing our position in the Premier League for next season.

"So we are going out for a win against St Georges," said Village's third coach for the season, Norman Foster.

Had this been the first two rounds Village's optimism would have been justified. Recently St Georges have remodelled themselves as a fighting unit under the guidance of Geoffrey Maxwell even with the absence of the Taylor brothers Jermaine and Ricardo and forward Dever Orgill. Girvon Brown and Romeo Parkes have responded really well to Maxwell with the latter scoring last week in St Georges' away win over Waterhouse.

Arnett Garden's Paul "Tegat" Davis is only concerned about what they can control - their own fate.

"What we have to do is ensure that we win our game.

"It is not going to be easy, but the guys are upbeat and they know the situation we are in right now, so we are going all out for the win," he explained.

Today's games

• 3:30 p.m: Arnett Gardens vs Humble Lion - Anthony Spaulding Complex
  
• 3:30 p.m: Benfica vs Boys Town - Drax Hall
  
• 3:30 p.m: Portmore United vs Waterhouse - Ferdie Neita Park
  
• 3:30 p.m: Sporting Central vs Harbour View - Brancourt
  
• 3:30 p.m: St Georges vs Village United - Lynch Park
  
• 3:30 p.m: Tivoli Gardens vs Reno - Edward Seaga Complex