MANCHESTER’S New Green will carry the burden of a Premier League starved parish on their shoulders when they host Meadows in today’s (Thursday) South Central Confederation Super League semi-final first-leg at Kirkvine Sports Club.

To say they are the underdogs is an understatement, but that has not stopped the Manchester faithful from believing that New Green could become the parish’s fourth premiership team.

“When I came to office the plan (was) to get a team into the Premier League and (this) is the closest we have come to realising that (vision), so we will support them with the hope they can get past the semi-finals and into the final,” Manchester FA president, Dalton Wint said recently.

Should they get by their St Catherine opponents, New Green will need to beat either Rivoli United or Newlands in the final, then negotiate their way through a tough home-and-away premiership play-off, which will include KSAFA’s Cavalier, plus the winners of the Eastern and Western Confederations.

It is now 14 years since Manchester last had a premiership team following the relegation of Mile Gully in the 1997/1998 season.

“It was a real disappointment when Mile Gully got relegated because they were the standard-bearers at the time,” said veteran sports administrator Pat Anderson.

“We lost Kirkvine and Los Perfectos before that, so Mile Gully gave us the opportunity to go out and watch football again. A number of us old-timers were really sad.”

One of four promoted outfits at the start of the competition, New Green were never expected to be challenging for a place in the final, especially given the mediocre performances of Manchester teams in Confed football in recent times.

They, however, defied the odds to beat off the likes of Bodles, Monymusk and Dela Vega City in a tricky Group A to join Rivoli in the last-four with a 1-0 victory over newcomers Royal Lakes on the last day of the preliminary round.

Now, beating the highly-fancied Meadows over two legs will be a harder task, but given the momentum with which they qualified for the semis, it is not impossible for Andre Swaby’s side to spring another surprise. Unlike the last two seasons, Meadows are not at their best — winning just half of their 16 regular season games to top Group B on 30 points, while failing to beat New Green in their cross-zone fixture.

When Mile Gully clinched Premier League qualification in 1997, it was greeted with much fanfare, and Barron Watson, who still coaches the team, reckons the mood in the parish is pretty much the same ahead of New Green’ clash with Meadows, who are hunting a third successive appearance in the final.

He said: “The people of Manchester are really excited about it, especially in the north west part of the parish. They are hoping that New Green can go on to win the Super League because it is over 10 years since Manchester really have a chance like this to reach the Premier League.”