Final four... semi-final action starts today

Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

The two teams to contest the final of the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) Claro Champion's League will be decided today, when the only Super League team remaining in the competition, Cavalier, tackle Premier League powerhouse Waterhouse at 4 p.m. in the first match of the double- header to be played at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex.

The second game will be between defending champions Harbour View and fellow Premier League campaigners Arnett Gardens at 6 p.m.

The Junglists have been the most prolific team in the competition, thanks to a 11-0 drubbing of Meadforest in their last outing, which moved their tally to 15 goals, while conceding four.

Arnett's head coach, Paul 'Tegat' Davis, is pleased with his team's scoring form and hopes this will give them added self-belief going forward.

"It is nice to see the team going back into a scoring mood; I hope that can do well for our confidence for the coming fixtures," Davis said.

He added: "The game is important, as we are playing for a cup, so it is important that we go out there and try and win the semi-final to go to the finals."

Despite also wanting to win the game, Harbour View's coach Donovan Hayles has other objectives in mind.

"Right now, I am developing a new strategy and approach and it worked well in the last game, so I would like to see how it works against an Arnett team," Hayles shared. "That is what we are basically looking forward to, winning is always a factor as we want to cultivate that into the minds of the players," he added.

The 'Stars of the East' are also using the competition to assess some of their new players, such as Damion Harwood, who has scored in both games he has featured in.

High on confidence

Waterhouse is high on confidence coming into their encounter, after getting by defending Premier League champions Tivoli Gardens by a 2-1 margin in the previous round. New head coach, Donovan Duckie, is not taking their opponents for granted.

"We have been playing well ... our confidence would naturally be up there, based on the win against Tivoli; I thought we played well in all aspects of the game," Duckie said. "The game against Cavalier definitely speaks for itself, it is a semi-final, so we are not taking them for granted, not because we are playing in a higher division; that doesn't count for anything," he added.

Buoyed by an open-round 3-1 win over Harbour View, Cavalier's coach David Laylor believes they have what it takes to beat their more fancied opponents.

"I believe Cavalier is able to match with any team in Jamaica currently," Laylor said. "We are just going to play our game of football and then just wait on the result and see what it is, because if we play good-quality football we should be able to outplay a Waterhouse team," he added.