Nodley Wright, Staff Reporter
TODAY'S ACTION in the second leg semi-finals of the Wray and Nephew National Premier League could more closely resemble the game of chess than the sport of football as four teams vie for two places in the final.
On display today will be the teams of four tacticians putting their varying strategies of attack and defence to work in the football chess game.
In the doubleheader at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex, former champions Hazard United and first-time hopefuls Village United get going at 4:30 while defending champions Arnett Gardens, who are going for a 'three-peat', go up against Harbour View at 6:30.
In the opening encounter, Village will have it all to do as they have a two-goal deficit to wipe off before they even begin to entertain thoughts of getting into the final.
Village coach Geoffrey Maxwell is a vetern in this league and if there is any coach who can spur his charges to respond to the challenge, he is the man.
He knows that in order for his side to have a chance there is no option but to attack. "We will play a very attacking game because we have nothing to lose," Maxwell said yesterday.
"We have to try to score within the first 20 minutes in order to unsettle Hazard," said Maxwell who added that such a result was not beyond his team. To drive home his point Maxwell made reference to the first game where "we should have been 2-0 up within the first 20 minutes".
"We are not underestimating Hazard because the advantage is in their court and I do not think they will be careless enough to defend when they have a two-goal advantage.
This would lead us to believe that the game would be wide open once again and based on the first game, when we had about five or six clear chances, we should be in good stead," Maxwell continued.
To get that job done Maxwell will have to count on the attacking abilities of Teofore Bennett, Fabian Dawkins, if he features as the coach was critical of his performance in the first leg, Thomas Grant and the drive of Daniel Ricketts out of midfield.
Hazard's coach, Lenworth Hyde, has always come across as a man with a well thought out approach. His attitude ahead of today's game was no different. "We are going into the game with a good lead but we cannot relax. We have to know that it is a new 90 minutes we have to try and keep a clean slate," Hyde said.
Additionally, Hyde, who has seen Maxwell at work over the years, knows that his foe will be coming with a few tricks up his sleeve.
"We know they will throw more people forward. We know how Geoffrey is ... he will throw three or four people forward so we have to look out for that but at the same time we have to do our thing," Hyde said.
Their style is very attacking which feeds Roen Nelson, the current record holder for goals scored in a season. Around him will be the likes of Kevin Deerr, Omar Daley, defensive rock Claude Davis and the Grenadian Anthony Modeste.
Like Village United, Harbour View will have to come from behind to secure a place in the final. Again they go up against a team which has had the measure of them this season, winning four of their seven meetings, drawing two and losing the other.
"First of all I will tell my players not to look at the situation as one where we have to come from behind," Hyde explained.
"All we have to do is win the game. Even 1-0, 2-1 or 3-0 as long as we do not draw the game we are in with a shot," he said.
Hyde believes he has the ammunition to do that what with the likes of Fabian Taylor, Dino Williams, Nicholas McCreath, Jomo Gordon and Ali Rose to choose from up front. These players will be backed up by midfield general Jermaine Hue and Daniel Shaw who could provide goals also.
Arnett Gardens coach Jerome Waite is expecting a tough fight from Harbour View.
"We are in front and Harbour View will have to fight to get back in this game," Waite said.
"It will be end-to-end action because we will not sit back and defend a one goal lead because we need to score more goals to ensure that we get into the final," Waite added.
Harbour View, he said, could possibly come with an even more attacking formation but his team would be boosted by the return of the tough-tackling Gerald Neil who will retain his starting place despite being substituted due to injury on Thursday.
"I expect them to come and add more punch in offence hoping that they will be able to capitalise while we will have something to counteract whatever they come with," Waite said.
Besides Neil, he will be looking to players such as Walter Boyd, who scored the double on Thursday to give his team a 2-1 victory, as well as Kevin Wilson, Cornel Chin-Sue, Fabian Davis and Jonothan Williams - all of whom have national experience.
