WITH ALL four teams locked on one point apiece, the race for Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) spots heats up today as Wadadah, St. Georges, Arlington and Santos are all in action in the Jamaica Football Federation NPL qualifiers.
This afternoon Santos travel to Lynch Park, Portland, to face St. Georges, flagbearers of the Eastern Confederation. Western Confederation side Wadadah journeys to Prison Oval, St. Catherine, where they will clash with South Central Confederation winners Arling-ton. Both games begin at 3:30 p.m.
Wadadah, who were demoted from the Premier League along with Bull Bay after finishing at the bottom of the pack in the 2002-2003 season are aiming at getting back into the 'big league'.
However, as they were shown by St. Georges at the weekend, the fact that they are two-time Premier League champs does not assure them an easy passage. Their opponents Arlington on Sunday travelled to King-ston, met KSAFA kingpins Santos and stalled their pro-gress by tying them up 1-1.
Wadadah, with former national striker Neville Brown, Mar-kino Gillings and former national defender Durrant 'Tatty' Brown, were forced by St. Georges to come from behind twice in a 2-2 draw at Jarrett Park.
Meanwhile, Santos will have to get past their disappointing 1-1 home draw to Arlington of St. Catherine (Central Confederation). With national junior representative Richard West in their side, Santos are in the play-offs for the third consecutive year. Last year they narrowly missed the Premier League but their coach, Carlton 'Spanner' Dennis, was quoted in The Gleaner recently as saying: "This time we won't buck. We are going straight through. If we don't make it this time, I will resign".
Two spots left vacant by the demotion of Seba United and Star Cosmos are up for grabs. The competition is a round-robin format with teams playing each other twice at the end of which the two teams with the most points qualify for next season's Premier League.
