It’s not only a crucial Red Stripe Premier League play-off game, it’s also a grudge match when Cavalier SC host Tivoli Gardens at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex in their first-leg, quarter-final match today at 6:00 pm.

Tomorrow at 8:35 pm Harbour View tackle Waterhouse FC at Compound, as both teams seek to secure first-leg advantages.

Tivoli Gardens had finished third in the three-round preliminary, while Cavalier ended sixth.

Cavalier will enter their match against Tivoli Gardens with a chip on their shoulder for more than one reason. In 2016, Cavalier lost to Tivoli Gardens in a result that saw them being relegated from the Premier League and back into parish football.

But although they made a quick return to top flight football this season, they have yet to beat Tivoli Gardens in 10 attempts.

“It will be a difficult match for us because in the last 10 games Tivoli have beaten us six times and we draw four games, so psychologically they have the edge,” Speid told the Jamaica Observer.

“But I just think that that 10 game doesn’t mean anything because it is a new game and the players are upbeat and confident and will be playing our style, which is attacking football,” he noted.

With their Stadium East field unavailable, Cavalier will be hoping the amphitheatre atmosphere at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex — the home of defending champions Arnett Gardens, the fierce rivals of Tivoli Gardens — will play into their hands.

But Tivoli Gardens will enter this contest very confident, having gone undefeated against Cavalier this season in three matches.

On October 22 Tivoli Gardens won 1-0, drew 1-1 on January 17, and won 3-1 on February 11 for the psychological advantage.

The Rudolph Speid-coached outfit is a young and exciting one that can tear any team to shreds on any given day. The likes of captain Chevone Marsh, Alex Marshall, Kareem Parris, Paul Wilson, Nicque Daley will be leading the Cavalier charge.

Tivoli Gardens, on the other hand, are strong defensively with the solid captain Romaine Breakenridge at the back, along with the sturdy Barrington Pryce.

The Omar Edwards-coached team is loaded with attacking talent in Jermaine Johnson, Junior McGregor, Andre Moulton, the diminutive Howard Morris, Sean Coleman and Elton Thompson.

Tivoli will be without goalscoring ace Colorado Murray, Rodico Wellington and Shavar Campbell through injury, but coach Edwards is confident that other players will step up to the plate and deliver.

“We are looking forward to a good game. We have played Cavalier three times in the preliminary rounds and we have managed to get some favourable results,” Edwards pointed out.

“But despite that, we know that Cavalier has a youthful team and will play with a lot of excitement, and [we] are hoping that we can organise ourselves in defence and hope it helps us to leave on the brighter side,” he added.

— Howard Walker