TG, H’View seek to regain DPL lead
EITHER Harbour View or Tivoli Gardens could regain the lead in the Digicel Premier League (DPL) this afternoon with wins over Clarendon teams Sporting Central Academy and Humble Lions, respectively.
Only two rescheduled games from November 15 are on today and although Harbour View and Tivoli Gardens are fancied for victories, it will be two tough encounters.
Portland-based St Georges lead the standing with 29 points, but will have to watch today’s game anxiously as they could slip from first to third place without kicking a ball.
The parish of Clarendon will be abuzz with excitement as two of the top teams in the country will be taking on the local boys. However, the support will be split for both Central Clarendon teams at Brancourt and Effortville.
Second-placed Harbour View, on 28 points, know a win against ninth-placed Sporting Central on 15 points would elevate them to pole position, regardless of the other result.
In their first encounter, Harbour View had to come from behind with a very late goal to hold Sporting Central to a 1-1 draw in their own backyard.
A 13-point gap separates both teams, but that may not be evident today at Brancourt as both teams have a good blend of youth and experience to produce an intriguing match-up.
National Under-20 striker Alanzo Adlam, who scored eight goals for Sporting last season, will be on the opposite end, this time trying to score for Harbour View against his old teammates.
But if he gets the nod from coach Donovan Hayles to play, he will be paid special attention by Linval Lewis, Terry Alves, National Under-20 defender Christopher Banner and company.
However, Harbour View is a deep team and attention will have to be paid to Jermaine Hue, Richard Edwards, Lovel Palmer, Denzil Watson, Andre Fagan and Kemar Petrekin.
At Effortville, home team Humble Lions could surprise champions Tivoli Gardens with their hard running.
On the opening day of the season, the promoted Humble Lions stunned the Tivoli faithful with a spirited performance, but lost 2-3.
Today, the Christopher Bendercoached unit could utilise its home advantage, although they have won only once at home. They are a toughtackling team and could throw the more smooth-playing Tivoli Gardens off their rhythm.
Humble Lions’ Kevin Mighty scored a ‘screamer’ against Tivoli for the fastest and first goal of the season in the third minute.
Since then, the skilful Mighty was called to the national team once, but has not registered another goal and today could be his day.
But the champions are not an easy team to beat and although they have not won any of the last five DPL games, they have enough fire power to kickstart their second round with an away win today.
Today’s schedule
3:00 pm Humble Lions FC vs Tivoli Gardens FC @ Effortville Community Centre
3:00 pm Sporting Central Academy vs Harbour View @ Brancourt