Staff Reporter
Perennial rivals Santos and Boys' Town will clash in the feature encounter, in one of four games at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium at 5:00 p.m., as action in the KSAFA/Jamaica National Super and Major leagues reach its semi-final stage.
In the other Super League game, Bull Bay tackle Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) at 7:00p.m. while in Major League action, Rae Town take on Meadhaven United at 1:00p.m. and Greenwich Town play Police National at 3:00p.m.
Defending champions Santos, champions in the last three years, will for the first time in four years, not meet Boys' Town in the final after finishing fourth in the league.
With the semi-final format of first place playing fourth and second playing third, Santos on 31 points was paired against table topping Boys' Town on 47, with Bull Bay on 38 meeting JDF on 36 points.
Challenge
Carlton 'Spanner' Dennis, coach of Santos, knows he has a monumental challenge on his hands after losing twice to the marauding 'Red Brigade', but says his team is capable of reversing those results.
Said Dennis: "Playing Boys' Town is always a challenge and the games are always interesting. They have been victorious for the past two preliminary games by a penalty.
"But we are always motivated going into a final or semi-final and we will be giving it our best shot and as defending champion we have to come and deliver," said Dennis.
DAUNTING TASK
Boys' Town, led by Fitzroy Anglin, Oneil Thompson, Gary McLeod, Kirk Edwards, Michael Campbell and Jermaine Bailey, have rattled up an impressive 44 goals while conceding 14 in 20 games with 15 wins and Santos face a daunting task of turning the tables.
Santos have struggled all season and just made it to the semi-finals by one point over Shortwood, winning only nine games while losing seven, scoring 21 and conceding a whopping 19.
Fabian Nethersole, Terrence Allen, Hubert Allen, Raymond Smith and Devon Haughton will have their hands full in their grasp to reach another final.
But with two victories over Santos, Andrew Price, coach of Boys' Town, says there is no place for complacency.
"Playing Santos very early in the semi-finals will keep us very honest for whosoever we play in the final. It's a game that we are prepared to play. We have done adequate preparation and it is up to the players to go out and execute.
"We had a good record throughout the season and once we go out and execute we should get goals. We are coming out to play some attacking football as we normally do," said Price.
UNBEATEN
Meanwhile, Bull Bay, the only unbeaten team in the league, will be confident of advancing after favourable results against the marching men of the army. In their first encounter both teams played to a 1-1 draw, but Bull Bay won the return fixture 2-0.
In the Major League, only five points separated first from fourth, an indication that the teams are closely matched and any number can play on any given day.
