Meadows, Newlands hunt Super League crown
SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine — Parishmates Meadows FC and Newlands FC will today bring the curtains down on the of theSouth Central Confederation Super League season when they clash at the Prison Oval for championship honours at 4:30 pm.
Two-and-a-half hours earlier, Downs FC of Manchester and Meadows will meet in the Under-20 decider.
They finals were originally scheduled for yesterday to facilitate the Digicel Premier League (DPL) game between Rivoli United and August Town, but were push to today due to the postponement of this week’s DPL fixtures.
With the South Central Confederation currently without a sponsor, the prize monies for both competitions are yet to be decided, but at stake in the Super League is a chance to play-off for one of two available spots in next season’s DPL.
And if for this reason only, the Meadows-Newlands match-up is sure to provide some amount of fireworks.
Both teams, who advanced to the semis form Group B, book their final berth in contrasting style as Newlands eased past Naggo Head 3-1, while Meadows had to dig deep before edging Tru-Juice 1-0 courtesy of a Dane Planter penalty in the 101st minute of extra-time.
In two meetings this season, Meadows have the upper-hand having thrashed Newlands 6-1 in their second game after the first ended 0-0.
Meadows, who are in their debut season of Super League football, will be aiming to become the first team to win the competition with an unbeaten record and only the second to win it as a debutant.
The feat was previously achieved by Arlington FC, who then gained promotion to the National Premier League 2004/05.
Meadows coach, Christopher Russell is expecting strong opposition from Newlands, but said he is confident is team will get the job done.
“… We are confident, but not overly confident…,” he said. “Having played them (twice) in the league we know they are going to come all-out, but we are just going out there to play our normal game and be very mindful that whatever opportunities come our way we are going to take them,” said Russell.
Newlands Michael Small, who ironically guided Meadows to the Super League believe his team have what it takes to end Meadows 15-match unbeaten run.
“One of our strongpoint is that we have players who know what it’s like to win games like this and that came out in the Naggo Head game (so) we are just going out there to give it our all,” noted Small.
