Black Star, Appleton clash in St Elizabeth Major League
SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Defending champions Black Star will oppose mid-season champions Appleton Estate in a highly anticipated match-up as return-round action in the Wray and Nephew-sponsored St Elizabeth Major League continues today with a double-header at Appleton Sports Complex.
In the curtain-raiser, second-placed Holland PYC will tackle fifth-placed Super Action at 1:30 pm. But all eyes will be on the feature encounter, set to kick-off at 3:30, when Black Star will look to avenge the humiliating 4-0 defeat they suffered on home turf in the reverse fixture.
Since that defeat Black Star have lost only once and conceded twice, but they still paid the price for a slow start to the season by missing out on the end-of-round final. And despite having a game in hand, they now trail Appleton Estate, who occupy top spot on 25 points, by two points.
Yet, with the competition’s top scorer Xavier Harvey, on 12 goals, leading their attack, the Black River-based side should be in a confident mood ahead of their date with Appleton, who have actually regressed since beating Tafari Lions in the mid-season final.
In the first round, Appleton dropped only four points, but have earned only three out of a possible nine in the second round, losing to Holland and Super Action in their last three games. And failure to beat Black Star this evening could cost them top spot should second-placed Holland (24) beat Super Action (17) in the early kick-off.
Holland are so far the top-performing team in the second round (having dropped only two points in three games) and should start as favourites against a Super Action side who, despite taking maximum six points from their two second-round games, have the joint-worst goalscoring and defensive records in the top six.
Meanwhile, in midweek, Haughton United moved five points clear of the relegation places following a 1-0 victory over fellow strugglers Newell United at Hunslow, while Santa FC remained in the bottom two on seven points after battling to a 1-1 stalemate with Tafari Lions, who stayed fourth on 19 points.
