By Nodley Wright, Freelance WriterWITH THE field whittled down to the last eight teams, the action should be hot in the Jamaica National Federation Cup Knockout football competition today as the quarter-finals commence. Of the four matches, there will be three within Kingston and St. Andrew and St. Catherine.
In perhaps the game of the day, the runaway leaders in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League, Tivoli Gardens, visit the Harbour View Mini-Stadium to take on defending champions Harbour View. In what should be a no less contentious encounter, Waterhouse host the talent-rich Portmore United. Over in Spanish Town, Rivoli will host Santos in the only clash which is not between two NPL teams.
All games begin at 3:00 p.m.
Harbour View, following their convincing win over Waterhouse in the NPL last Sunday, should be in a confident mood going up against Tivoli Gardens. Coach Donovan Hayles though is playing it safe. "We are just trying be in the final to defend our trophy," he said.
"We will be coming up against formidable opponents who are on a great unbeaten stretch right now and what we will try to do is play a similar game to what we played against Waterhouse in the league last weekend. In that game we employed all the disciplines in all areas of the game," said Hayles.
For their part, Tivoli Gardens have stood up to the tests presented by all this season, especially in the second half. So far they have remained unbeaten in 18 games in all competitions. Being under strength is nothing new to them and just last month a team reduced to bare bones by injuries pulled off a win over NPL defending champions Portmore United at the Ferdie Neita Park.
If the form of their emotional leader Fabian Davis is taken into consideration, then they have another major positive. The Jamaica representative has scored four goals, including a hat trick, in his past two games.
"The camp is good right now. The leadership of the likes of Davis, Kasai Hinds, Edsel Scott, Steve Green and Christopher Nicholas is quite good," said manager Brian Rose.
With the likes of Nicholas and Green out, Rose is expecting the veteran Andrew "Rusty" Chisholm to fill the gap.
"We will still have Roland Dean and Andrew Chisholm to provide the attacking punch for us. Chisholm had a wonderful game against Seba in the week and we are hoping that he can reproduce that form for us today," Rose said.
In their last outing Portmore United had a forgettable day - one they will be at great pains not to repeat.
We are taking this game very, very seriously," said Portmore coach Lenworth Hyde. "We have not won any trophies this season so this means a lot to us.
"In our last game, in the league against Village United, we were missing core players. The players Anthony Modeste, Kevin Deerr and Winston Griffiths are all back. For this week training has been good and the spirit is great," Hyde said.
With the knowledge of their mistakes behind them, Hyde is confident of getting a positive result today on Waterhouse's home ground. "We went there before, however, and did our job so we can go there and do it again," the confident Hyde sounded off.
Waterhouse, on the other hand, have no plans to allow Portmore to come into their house and spoil their party. And, yes, they have a party planned.
"Last year we lost in the quarters and now we are going all out for a win," said manager David Henry. He continued: "Based on the fanfare that we are planning, we expect a lot of support and we want to reward them with a victory. What we are looking at is a fan appreciation day which is the brainchild of Felix Porter. We will be giving away at least 10 bicycles, other prizes and a number of gift vouchers valued at $2,000," said Henry.
The show they have planned will have to do without the likes of crowd favourites Weston Forrest and the combative Damion Powell. Both are out on suspension.
Santos can be considered the only outsiders in this company of "big boys". The fact that people will think they do not belong will have no effect on how they play their game. This is according to coach Carlton 'Spanner' Dennis.
"We are going out there to enjoy ourselves and play to the best of our ability. If we want to be a top-flight team then we have to play against opposition such as this and do well," Dennis explained.
"We will be very competitive," he continued. This is despite being without captain and goalkeeper Andrew Sewell who is injured as well as midfielder Richard Edwards and in-form man-marker Dwayne Atkinson.
In Patrick Beech, Rivoli possess a man tailor-made for the leadership position. He leads by example both in play and attitude to the game.
Their other big man though, Garfield Reid, will be missing as he is in Norway on trials for a professional contract.
Devon Hodges and company should provide Beech with enough assistance for them to get the better of the plucky Santos, who will be looking to Richard West for the goals.
