By Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
Fabian Dawkins (right) and Village's captain, Mark Williams, celebrate a goal against Reno earlier this NPL season. - Paul Reid / Staff Photographer
WESTERN BUREAU:
LEADERS HARBOUR View will host former champions Arnett Gardens this afternoon as the Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) continues with the fifth set of games in the first round.
Arnett Gardens have struggled since the start of the season and are coming off their first home loss of the season, going down 2-0 to Village while Harbour View have reeled off four straight wins after dropping the opening game of the season.
At the Elliston Wakeland Centre in Falmouth, second-placed Village take on debutants Invaders in a Trelawny derby; Constant Spring (nine points) will be at home to defending champions Portmore United; Waterhouse will take on Seba United at Drewsland while Rivoli United and Tivoli Gardens will meet at the Prison Oval.
All games will start at 3:30 p.m.
Donovan Hayles, coach and 'mix-master' of the Harbour View team, has chalked up the early success of his East Kingston club to his combination of young and old players.
"This season we have been mixing experience with youth, players who are not afraid to come and show what they have and we'll continue to do that," Hayles said.
National players Fabian Taylor and Damion Stewart along with Jomo Gordon, who has scored in the past two games, Christopher Harvey and the experienced Jermaine Hue will lead Harbour View who must be favoured to come away with all three points.
ARNETT IN MINI-SLUMPS
Arnett appears to be in another of their mini-slumps and, not counting their win over newcomers Invaders and an ugly 1-0 victory over arch-rivals Tivoli, have yet to get into full stride and have been playing without a number of their top players.
Garth Boota, Cornel Chin-Sue, Gerald Neil and Ray Graham are expected to hold the Arnett team together, however, as they seek to snap out of the slump and beat Harbour View for their third straight time dating back to last season.
Portmore and Constant Spring will hope to bounce back from losses in the last round but, despite playing away, the champions should get the nod over over-achieving Constant Spring.
Portmore (formerly Hazard) have scored six goals in their past two games against the Danny Lyn-coached Spring and have been unbeaten against them in the past three meetings.
The Spring they will meet today, however, will be a different team, one with more confidence which, despite scoring only three goals so far this season, finds itself in third place, one above the champions.
The Trelawny derby will not be a cozy family get-together despite the familiarity between the teams. With the exception of a few players, all the Invaders players were once a part of the Village set up. Some, including former nationals Thomas Grant and Winston Anglin, played up to last season.
Invaders and fellow newcomers Star Cosmos are the only teams yet to taste victory this season and manager Oliver Warren warned they would be coming for a win.
EXTRA-HYPE
He admits there will be some "extra-hype" for his team but Village's coach, Lloyd Williams, said they would be approaching the fixture "as just another game where we will be hoping we stick to our system of being patient, knocking the ball around and the players running into position."
Neither team will be looking for any favours but Oliver pointed out that some of his players who failed to get regular minutes while at Village would be seeking to prove a point.
Former champions Tivoli broke a three-game losing skid when they beat Seba in their last game and if they can build on their second half performance at Jarrett Park on October 5, Rivoli will find themselves chasing all afternoon.
Former Arnett Gardens midfielder Fabian Davis looked at home for Tivoli and should start today and could be the difference for the Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey coached team.
