WESTERN BUREAU:
Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
FOURTH-PLACED Village United and Waterhouse will be seeking their first win against each other in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League when they meet in a third round Zone A encounter at the Elleston-Wakeland Community Centre today at 3:00 p.m.
The teams had drawn both previous encounters this season, including a dramatic and bad tempered 3-3 clash at Elleston on September 15.
Today's game will also mark the start of the second coaching stint at the Trelawny team for Geoffrey Maxwell who takes over the reins of the team from Marvin Tate who stepped down a week ago.
Waterhouse will be very familiar to Maxwell who coached them to two NPL titles and had beaten them earlier this season while he was in charge of Tivoli Gardens.
Both teams will be without influential players but Maxwell thinks his charges will have an advantage because of his knowledge of the Waterhouse team and its players.
Village, who according to Maxwell should clinch a place in the semi-finals if they can win the next three games, will be without captain and central defender Mark Williams who underwent emergency surgery last week to remove splinters from his eyes that he received during a motor vehicle accident while midfielder Shane Crawford is still nursing a hamstring injury.
Waterhouse will have to win without the influential Irvino English and Andre Hickling who are serving three-match bans but will welcome back former top striker Kevin Lamey.
After being the team of the second round when they amassed 25 points from a possible 33 to qualify for the end of round finals and also retained the KSAFA Jackie Bell Knockout title, Waterhouse have failed to win any of their third-round matches.
Coach Calvert Fitzgerald was not particularly perturbed about his team's plight telling The Gleaner that "this is a very young side with some teenagers starting and we must give them time to learn and grow so I am not unduly worried".
"We were very happy to reach the mid-season final and to win the Jackie Bell but we must understand that the team needs time to make mistakes," he said.
Fitzgerald's patience aside, he will be hoping the team doesn't make any mistakes against a Village team which dominated a good Seba side at Jarrett Park last week and despite two top players out due to injuries, Village will still be a potent bunch.
Village are coming off a 1-0 loss to St Ann Division One team Kaiser in their JNBS Federation Cup Knockout on Thursday but Maxwell dismissed that result saying there was no cause for alarm.
Village had won the first leg 5-1 at home and Maxwell said the coaching staff took a decision to rest seven of the regular starters to give the reserves a chance to show what they had.
Maxwell said he rested both Ricketts brothers Donovan and Daniel, Williams, Crawford, Fabian Dawkins, Teofore Bennett and Andre Emmanuel.
Most of these players will be available today including striker Thomas Grant who has recovered from a broken bone in his ankle and this could spell trouble for the Waterhouse defence.
Maxwell said that with two losses under their belts so far this round, the spirit of the Waterhouse team might be dampened and it could face a tough afternoon against a team looking towards the semi-finals.
Fitzgerald also had some concerns about his team's failure to convert chances adding that if they could rectify that they would have "an excellent chance of winning".
Harbour View will be seeking to stretch their lead over third placed Arnett Gardens who will be idle when they journey to Jarrett Park to face Wadadah in a game set to start at 5:00 p.m.
Arnett were due to play Reno but that game has been postponed as Arnett will be involved in the Caribbean Club championships on Wednesday.
The Donovan Hayles-coached Harbour View team will be licking their lips at the prospects of meeting the relegation-bound team as they have scored 12 of their 53 goals against the Montego Bay team in two meetings this season, winning 9-1 and 3-1.
Wadadah are an improved side however and could put up a fight with the addition of some new players.
National Under-20 goalkeeper Richard McCallum, Cornwall College schoolboy Kirkland Smith, the veterans Garnett Denton and Devon Ricketts along with Socrates Christie and Floyd Scott will give the home team a fighting chance of scoring its fourth win of the season.
