Eight teams are still in the hunt for the top six spots in the Jamaica Premier League which will determine who will stand a chance of being crowned national champions for the 2020/2021 season.

Ahead of the start of match week 10, the top eight teams are Vere United and Mount Pleasant FA on 14 points; Waterhouse FC, Portmore United, Tivoli Gardens FC, and Dunbeholden FC on 13 points each; and Cavalier FC and Harbour FC on 12 points apiece.

The other three teams — Arnett Gardens FC, Molynes United, and Humble Lions — are all out of contention of making the play-offs.

There will be a triple header at the The University of the West Indies-Jamaica Football Federation Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence today and a double-header at the same venue tomorrow, which should create a clearer picure as to the final six teams who will battle for the title later this month.

The first game of the weekend will feature Molynes United going up against Waterhouse FC in what is expected to be a keen contest, despite the fact that Molynes are already eliminated.

Third-placed Waterhouse have won their last two games and will be full of confidence going into this encounter. A win in this 10:00 am kick-off will take them top of the table, if only for a few hours, as the top two teams face each other in the final game of the triple header which begins at 3:30 pm.

A place at the summit should provide enough incentive for the team coached by Marcel Gayle and their leading goalscorer Andre Fletcher, who is tied in second place in the race for the Golden Boot on five goals with Andrew Vanzie, one behind leader Oquassa Chong of Harbour View who has six.

Seventh-placed Cavalier will battle champions Portmore United, who are currently in fourth place, in the second game of the day starting at 1:00 pm.

These two teams are separated by three places, but only by a point, and Portmore will have to deal with a new man being in charge on the sidelines after the sudden resignation of Head Coach Ricardo “Bibi” Gardner earlier this week.

Assistant Coach Garnett Lawrence has been named interim head coach until the end of the season and he will have to cope without the services of influential Captain Ricardo Morris, who was called up to the Reggae Boyz squad for the World Cup qualifiers to be played over the next few days.

Cavalier will be hoping that these two situations will provide enough of a distraction to pounce on the champions and claim all three points. Portmore will believe that there is enough depth in their squad to cope with the loss of their captain for this key encounter.

Cavalier lost their last encounter, while Portmore have lost their last two. Both teams will be desperate for all three points and a draw will do nothing to strengthen the chances of play-off football for either team, in a very close top-six race.

Surprise leaders Vere United and second-placed Mount Pleasant have an almost identical record with four wins, two draws, and two losses. Surprisingly, Vere have a better goal difference, due largely to their defensive solidity this season, a far cry from what obtained in the aborted 2019/2020 campaign.

Vere’s success so far this season has been built on staunch defending and playing on the counter-attack, something we are likely to see in the feature game today. Contrast that with the attacking mentality of Mount Pleasant Head Coach Wally Downs who demands that his team play on the front foot all the time which makes for a classic encounter.

The added spice of Donovan Duckie being on the sidelines for Vere after departing Mount Pleasant under less than pleasant circumstances at the start of the 2019/2020 season adds to the intrigue.

Duckie will be keen on getting one over on his former employers in a game where a win would all but guarantee a spot in the play-offs for either team.

Tomorrow’s games are just as important, as two of the four teams are still in the hunt for play-off football.

In the midday kick-off, Arnett Gardens will try to dent the chances of Dunbeholden FC who have dragged themselves into contention after a disastrous start to the campaign.

The young Arnett Gardens outfit have found things difficult this season and have managed just two wins from their eight games so far. But even while the wins have not come, the performances have been encouraging, and Alex Thomas will be demanding workmanlike effort from his troops.

As for Harold Thomas, the veteran coach has worked his magic to bring Dunbeholden back from the dead and into contention after taking over on completion of match week two. But Thomas, more than anyone else, will know that the job is not yet done and will have his team focused on getting all three points tomorrow, which will get them beyond at least one of the current top two, since they both can’t win.

Tivoli Gardens have been a steady team all season and they get the chance to see what all the other contenders have done before they close out match week ten against Humble Lions FC.

They are currently in fifth position and a win tomorrow would put them in a commanding place for the play-offs. They were only the second team to beat Vere United this season when they squeezed out a 1-0 last weekend, and a similar result would certainly be enough for Head Coach Phillip Williams.

Dervoy Grey, with three goals, is the main man up front for Tivoli, and a lot will rest on his shoulders this Saturday.

For Andrew Price and Humble Lions, this match is the final fixture of a hard campaign, and they will be hoping to end the regular season on a high, having secured their two victories this season from two of their last four games. Andrew Vanzie will be desperate to get on the scorecard again for Humble Lions as he remains in the hunt for the Golden Boot despite his team’s lowly position in the league.

Harbour View are the other contenders for a play-off spot, but they will rest this weekend, having already played nine of their 10 regular season games.