TUCKER, St James — Defending champions Montego Bay United (MBU) could take over the lead in the Red Stripe Premier League this afternoon, when they take on Arnett Gardens in a rescheduled first-round game at WesPow Park, set to start at 3:00pm.

The teams will meet in an unusual back-to-back regular season fixtures after MBU won Sunday’s opening second-round game 2-0, also at Wespow Park, in St James.

Donovan Carey scored his first goal of the season and Dino Williams got his fifth, both coming in the second half, on Sunday.

The victory moved MBU to 22 points, one behind leaders UWI FC, while Arnett Gardens, who lost to MBU in the semi-finals last season, slipped one place to sixth place — stuck on 18 points and winless in their last three games.

For today’s game, both coaches will be looking to their benches as they seek to keep their players fresh after Sunday’s game and another scheduled for Sunday, three days later.

MBU’s coach Slavisa Bozicic said he could make some adjustments. “Depending on how the players recover, we will still play an attacking game, but we want to see how they recover from their injuries as well.”

Arnett Gardens’ Jerome Waite said returning to Montego Bay in five days will be tough.

“Travelling to MoBay and playing is always difficult; it will be hard to travel all that way again in a few days. We will have to rotate players and see what we can get from the game,” said Waite.

MBU dominated the possession and scoring chances on Sunday, attacking the Arnett Gardens team from the start, and a pleased coach Bozicic told the Jamaica Observer West afterwards, “that was the style of football we wanted to play from the start, but had to wait for the players to adapt to the system.”

“We needed time, but we are getting better and stronger,” he said, adding that the team had improved between 40 and 50 per cent since he took over in July.

Kevon Lambert, who played schoolboy football for Glenmuir High last season, could retain his position after making his debut for MBU on Sunday, taking over the central midfield position, and replacing regular holding midfielder Dwayne Ambusley, who was injured on national duties. Lambert looked poised against the more experienced Arnett Gardens players and fitted in well alongside Keniel Kirlew and Jermaine Woozencroft.

Williams has scored in back- to-back games and might also retain his place in the starting line-up. He may be partnered by either Allan Ottey or Corey Hylton, who came off the bench on Sunday.