LeVaughn Flynn, Staff ReporterLEBERT HALLIMAN and his Excelsior team have a daunting task ahead of them when they face Glenmuir at Brancourt, Clarendon in the return leg of the Olivier Shield at 3:00 p.m. today.
Excelsior, the Manning and Walker Cup champs, and Glenmuir, the daCosta and Ben Francis Cup winners, are both chasing triple-crown glory by taking home the Olivier Shield. But Halliman's team faces double jeopardy as it plays the second leg in Glenmuir's backyard and is up against the wall after losing the first leg 2-1 at the National Sta-dium on Saturday.
That loss was Excelsior's first for the season and it may be playing on the players psyche and mental preparations but Halliman indicated that his team regrouped quickly .
"I think my team saw where it gave away the game and that it is its responsibility to come again," said Halliman.
Aware of Glenmuir's depth and potency, the coach has long said: "They are the best schoolboy team." Striker Steve Mor-risey, Cornell Learmond and Donovan Miller have been leading the Glenmuir team. Morrisey has scored more than 20 goals in their undefeated season and forms part of a formidable contingent that introduced Excelsior to a new level of competition.
"I tried my best to get a win at home where I knew the conditions would have been against them but we never prevailed," Halliman said after the defeat.
"It's an uphill task, very stiff," he added of the return leg. "But we are going there (Brancourt) and we are going to give it our best shot. When you are not on your face you are on your back so you have to get up and fight again."
Glenmuir coach Jackie Walters warned that "the mighty will fall" before the first leg and outside of a spectacular goal by Ricardo Ximines that gave Excelsior the lead, the Mountian View Avenue boys yielded.
"I think we (were) the better team and we proved it," Walters said.
Glenmuir only need not to lose to win their first triple-crown. If Excelsior are to take the title, they must win by two clear goals.
"They are going to come all out," stated Walters of Excelsior. "They know they have to beat us at Brancourt to win and we are determined that that they won't do it," he said.
If Excelsior win by a goal, they will share the title with Glenmuir as they did with Rusea's in 1993 and Frome last year.
