Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
STRUGGLING RENO and Invaders will have their hands full today as they host Tivoli Gardens and defending champions Portmore United respectively in the second round of the Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL).
Reno will meet Tivoli at the Frome Sports Complex while Invaders and Portmore will clash at Elliston Wakeland Centre both games start at 3:00 p.m.
Tivoli, who are fifth in the overall standings and sixth in the second round, and Portmore, who are third in both the overall and second round standings, are in the running for a place in the second end of round final and ultimately a place in the semi-finals. Reno and Invaders are meanwhile struggling to stay in the league and working hard to avoid relegation.
Reno who have brought a number of schoolboys into their squad are in eighth place in the overall standings on 20 points but 10th in the second round while Invaders have slipped all the way to 10th in the overall standings and are ninth in the second round.
Reno are coming off their second win in the round, a morale-boosting 3-2 come-from-behind win over Star Cosmos and assistant coach Boysie Nicholson is expecting his team to rise to the challenge of Tivoli.
The team was due back in camp yesterday after taking a break for the Christmas holidays, Nicholson said but added he was confident they would come ready for the game.
Reno will be without defender Barrio Authurs who suffered a leg injury and will be out for a few more weeks but Nicholson thinks they have competent replacements in schoolboys Alphonso Lewis or Tristan Cunningham.
The relative positions of both clubs was not lost on Nicholson however as he said that while Tivoli were searching for a semi-final berth, his side was trying to survive.
Reno will start out defensive, he said, and take the game from there and see where they could get an advantage.
It could be difficult for Reno to get any advantage against a Tivoli defence that will be led by national player Ian Goodison while the attack, which could include, Roland Dean, Christopher Nicholas and Fabian Davis, should be a handful for the youthful Reno team.
Invaders' coach, Paul 'Tegat' Davis, said his team needs to win and going up against a team as good as Portmore it must play "tactical".
Davis said, the "team is not playing that badly but just not scoring goals ... once we get back the scoring touch things should be all right.
Scoring against the best defensive team in the league might be a problem for Invaders however, especially after losing a number of players. While he said he could not recall the names of the player off the top of his head, Davis said the team had lost some of its top scorers and had been playing without them for the past four or five games but said the young players on the bench have stepped up.
Invaders have picked up just two points in their last five outings however and if they are to get maximum points from Portmore these players must lift the games.
Lenny Hyde will return to the Portmore bench after serving out his two-game ban but the team will be without Wolry Wolfe who received two yellow cards in their loss to Constant Spring on Sunday.
Portmore will have the proven Roen Nelson, Adrien Mitchell and Andrew Morrison but Hyde was singing the praises of his youth brigade including former Old Harbour High striker Carlington Smith, Mario Swaby and Kemeil Wolfe.
Hyde said they were looking forward to playing away from home, as "we have not been doing to well at home".
While his team is two points off the lead in the second round, Hyde said the end of round final was not a priority but would be welcomed if it did happen.
He said the team was focussed on making the semi-finals at the end of the third round.
POINTS STANDINGS
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | TPTS |
| Waterhouse | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 33 | 17 | +14 | 9 | 34 |
| Harbour View | 18 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 24 | 13 | +11 | 10 | 34 |
| Portmore United | 17 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 22 | 8 | +14 | 11 | 30 |
| Village United | 17 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 17 | 10 | +7 | 11 | 30 |
| Tivoli | 17 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 22 | 15 | +7 | 9 | 27 |
| Rivoli United | 17 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 26 | 20 | +6 | 13 | 26 |
| Arnett Gardens | 17 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 18 | 25 | -7 | 4 | 18 |
| Constant Spring | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 17 | 29 | -13 | 10 | 21 |
| Reno | 17 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 17 | 20 | -3 | 6 | 20 |
| Invaders | 17 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 18 | 22 | -4 | 6 | 17 |
| Seba United | 17 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 18 | 29 | -10 | 2 | 12 |
| Star Cosmos | 17 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 34 | -20 | 7 | 10 |
TPTs denotes overall points
