Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
Harbour View's Lovell Palmer (left) is pushed off the ball by Tivoli's Kasai Hinds in their Red Stripe Cup Knockout second leg quarter-final match at the Edward Seaga Stadium last month. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Tivoli Gardens will tackle Harbour View in the feature game of four Wray and Nephew National Premier League matches at the Mini-Stadium at 5:00 p.m. today as the final push for the $1 million bonus heats up.
In the other encounters, Arnett Gardens host Wadadah, Arlington and Rivoli clash in a Spanish Town derby at the Prison Oval and Village welcome Constant Spring to the Elliston Wakeland Centre.
With the team that ends with the most points at the end of the season securing a $1 million bonus and with only three points separating the top four teams, today's clash between Tivoli Gardens and Harbour View is of paramount importance.
Harbour View, on 62 points, are lying second behind Portmore on 63 and just one point above Tivoli Gardens and both teams will want to take advantage of the inactivity of Portmore and Waterhouse, who play tomorrow, to jump to the top of the standings.
NATIONAL PLAYERS
Harbour View, boasting eight national players, looked lethargic on Sunday in the Red Stripe Champions Knockout final while losing 3-1 to a very efficient Portmore aggregation.
Captain Marvel Jermaine Hue, Luton Shelton, Lovell Palmer, Robert Scarlett, Damion Stewart and Ryan Thompson cannot afford a repeat of Sunday's performance in which they lacked verve and a much improved effort is expected.
But can the Caribbean Club champions end their two-game losing streak after going down to rock bottom Invaders on May 18 and rebound with a win against Tivoli Gardens?
Harbour View, the 1999 champions, have had good success against Tivoli Gardens this season, knocking the orange and black-clad Tivolites out of the Caribbean Club championship and more recently the Red Stripe Champions Cup.
But all that is behind Tivoli Gardens and the Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey-coached team will be a different proposition today.
Christopher Nicholas has struck a rich vein of form and has propelled himself to the top of the goalscoring chart with 17 goals.
Nicholas, along with strike partner Roland Deans, captain Kasai Hinds, Steve Green, the hard-working Davian Laing, Christopher Jackson and Orane Simpson will want to take advantage of Harbour View's lack of confidence at the moment and secure an important win.
Over at the Tony Spaulding Complex, Arnett Gardens will be fighting hard to avoid being flooded as is the norm these days at the Complex.
In Arnett's past four home games, they have won only once, trouncing Invaders 5-0 but have lost heavily to Portmore, 3-0, and by 5-0 to Waterhouse and Tivoli.
At the Prison Oval, Arlington will be looking get the better of their Spanish Town neighbours Rivoli as they continue their survival fight.
They remain six points behind Reno and with three rounds remaining it's not looking too good, especially as Reno play bottom team Invaders tomorrow.
The Village/Constant Spring encounter is of academic interest as both teams have little to play for as they are in the middle of the standings and are safe from relegation.
The only thing at stake is pride.
TODAY'S GAMES
Arnett Gardens vs Wadadah at Tony Spaulding Complex at 5:00 p .m.
Harbour View vs Tivoli Gardens at Harbour View Mini-Stadium at 5:00 p.m.
Arlington vs Rivoli at Spanish Town Prison Oval at 3:30 p.m.
Village vs Constant Spring at Elliston Wakeland Centre at 3:30 p.m.
