By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
WATERHOUSE, THE hottest team in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL), will seek their fifth straight win today when they take on defending champions Portmore United at Ferdie Neita Park in St. Catherine at 3:30 p.m.
Under the guidance of Harold Thomas, Waterhouse have climbed to second place in the standings with 14 points, two less than leaders Harbour View and two more than Portmore.
If the recent trend continues, Waterhouse should come away with the win as neither team has been able to beat the other at home throughout last season.
Portmore (then Hazard) won two of the teams' three meetings last season but both came at Emmett Park, in Kingston while losing the game played at Ferdie Neita.
Meanwhile, Harbour View will be home to fourth-placed Tivoli Gardens in another mouthwatering match-up while struggling Reno and Arnett Gardens will meet at Frome in a game both need to win.
Village United will be seeking to bounce back from their loss to Harbour View on Sunday when they take on a struggling Star Cosmos at Addison Park in Brown's Town. Village will be licking their lips at the prospect after the newcomers allowed seven goals against Seba United on Sunday.
Waterhouse have scored 13 of their league-leading 15 goals in their past four games (all victories) but will come up against the best defence in the league as Portmore have allowed just three goals thus far.
Fresh on the heels of their 3-0 dismantling of Arnett Gardens at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex in Kingston on Sunday, Waterhouse's confidence will be high as they seek to keep their unbeaten away record intact and score their third win away from home this season.
Joint leading scorer Kevin Lamey, who has seven goals this season, Nigerian Uchechukwu Chinyere, captain Irvino English and Kirk Martin will spearhead the most potent attack in the league but must step up their game against a Portmore team that will have the lead in their sights.
A 0-0 draw against newcomers Invaders at home on Sunday will not do Portmore United's confidence much good however but they have proven scorers in the likes of Roen Nelson, Andrew Morrison and Kevin Deerr.
Sunday was the third time this season that Portmore have failed to score in a match and they will be seeking to make amends today.
Harbour View are coming off a tough 2-0 win at Village and, despite the fact they will be without number one shot stopper Leroy Gray, who was sent off in the first half, will have a competent back-up in Leon Gordon.
Tivoli will fancy their chances of pulling off their fifth road win and second in a row at Harbour View, dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, at Frome, Westmoreland both clubs will be desperate for three points after finding themselves near to the bottom half of the table and boast a combined three wins between them.
Reno have not lost to Arnett in their past three games, winning once and drawing the other two and will be seeking to keep that record intact.
Both coaches are expecting a tough battle and Reno's interim coach, Wendell Downswell, told The Gleaner yesterday that while it will be a "crucial game for both clubs" he thinks that if they can build on their second-half performance against Tivoli on Sunday, they can come away with three points.
"Despite the result on Sunday, our performance overall was good as we got a spirited effort from the team. There was a lot we learned from that game, especially in the last half and once we can start playing like how we played the last half we should do well," he said.
He went on to say that they "hope to move from strength to strength and take the positive things (from the Tivoli game and) we definitely will be reinforcing those things to further enhance the team's performance coming for this assignment."
He said the recent upheavals at the club over unpaid salaries and the changing of coaches was over and the job at hand for the administrators was to make sure the future of the club was bright.
