Champions Cavalier Football Club and last year’s beaten finalist Waterhouse FC will be hoping to turn the tables on Dunbeholden and Harbour View when they square off in their respective Jamaica Premier League (JPL) semi-final return-leg encounters at Sabina Park today.

The teams, who battled out last year’s final of a truncated season, are both faced with a one-goal deficit that their respective camps are confident of overturning, but Dunbeholden and Harbour View should also have a few tricks up their sleeves to ensure they secure their advantages.

Waterhouse and Harbour View will meet in the curtain-raiser at 5:00 pm, with Cavalier and Dunbeholden now meeting in the 7:30 pm feature contest.

With Nicholas Hamilton’s all-important 82nd-minute strike being the only difference between them in what was a lively and entertaining first leg, another mouth-watering contest is on the horizon between Harbour View and Waterhouse, with a spot in Sunday’s final on the line.

After narrowly eking out the final play-off spot on goal difference, Harbour View are out to prove that they are no fluke, especially at this point, when they are seemingly peaking at the right time.

That first-leg win against a fresh and highly talented Waterhouse team was only a few days after they outlasted Arnett Gardens in a gruelling return-leg quarter-final contest that went the distance before being decided by penalties.

Now a bit more freshened, the “Stars of the East” will be aiming for a reproduction of their first-leg performance in which they were on the front foot for the most parts, and gave the Waterhouse defenders much to think about.

Ludlow Bernard’s side has showed more determination and grit at this the business end of the season than they did earlier, which the tactician welcomed heading into another crucial game.

“It’s very important that we are peaking at the right time as I said in previous interviews throughout the course of the season. There has been alot of shuffling, but its all about getting the balance right and understanding the players. So there seems to be a momentum in terms of the cohesiveness of the team, and the roles are a lot clearer now for all to execute when they go out there,” Bernard said.

Trayvone Reid, Colorado Murray, and Oshane Staple are a few of the players that will lead Harbour View’s charge.

If anyone knows Waterhouse FC, it’s one of, if not the most balanced team in the nation’s top-flight league, and Assistant Coach Daniel Bent knows just that as he promised a comeback.

“This is a quality team and so we are looking forward to come back and see our way to the final. One goal can never beat a Waterhouse Football Club, so we will just correct some things and come out Wednesday [today] to take all three points,” Bent noted.

He will be looking to Cardel Benbow, Denardo Thomas, and Ramone Howell to lead from the front.

Meanwhile, unlike Waterhouse, Dunbeholden FC used their fresh legs to good advantage against a weary-looking Cavalier team, though it was only Peter McGregor’s 20th-minute strike that separated them.

Given McGregor’s form and his fairly successful combination with Atapharoy Bygrave and talismanic midfielder Nickoy Christian, Dunbeholden will start favourites to contest their first JPL final since earning promotion in the 2018-19 season.

Assistant Coach Ricardo Smith is backing his St Catherine-based team to get the job done.

“We had a workmanlike performance in the first leg and we are just hoping to take it over into the second leg,” he said.

For Rudolph Speid’s youthful Cavalier outfit, the two days rest will have to suffice as they will be required to leave it all on the pitch in order to remain on course to defend their title.

“We are having some niggling injuries and you could see a little fatigue on some of the players, so I’ll just have to freshen up the side and come back. We have to attack and they [Dunbeholden] have to defend, so thats the game plan,” Speid declared.

Dwayne Atkinson, Collin Anderson, and Kenroy Campbell will be required to showcase their speed and flair to better the Dunbeholden backline.

Today’s games

5:00 pm: Waterhouse FC vs Harbour View FC

7:30 pm: Cavalier FC vs Dunbeholden FC

*Both games will be played at Sabina Park

— Sherdon Cowan