Waterhouse face Village hurdle
published: Sunday | February 19, 2006

Nodley Wright, Freelance Writer

WATERHOUSE WILL have an excellent opportunity to reduce Harbour View's once unassailable lead to a mere two points when they meet Village United at the Elleston Wakeland Centre in the third set of matches of Wray and Nephew National Premier League third round today.

If Waterhouse are to achieve this feat, they will have to do what no other team has done for the entire season - beat Village United at their home ground. That though is no major worry for Wayne Fairclough who has not lost a Premier League match since taking over from Calvert Fitzgerald over a round ago.

WE NEED TO WIN

"We have to win as we need to win in order to achieve our aim of taking the title this season," said coach Fairclough, whose team has split two games with Village United. In the first meeting Waterhouse were soundly beaten by Village United with Fabian Dawkins running riot. Waterhouse returned the favour in the return game and they have not looked back since.

"We are expecting a tough game as Village are a team that has defended stoutly at home and then counter. There is also the situation where a number of teams are afraid of playing on the Village field but we will go there with no fear in our hearts," Fairclough said.

"What we are focusing on is the fact that we have to get three points," he said.

But while Waterhouse are focusing on closing in on leaders Harbour View, Village United also have hopes of closing the gap on the leaders and preserving their unbeaten home record.

"We are looking forward to a victory to keep our goals within reach. We have not lost at home and we have no intentions of starting now," said assistant coach Cassman Williams whose team has struggled to score without their leading scorers Fabian Dawkins and Newton Sterling.

Dawkins returned to the team last week following a trial in Sweden and led his team to a victory over the top-ranked team. They will need him again today for a win over the number two team.

"It will be a tough game and we will need all our players if we are to win. As long as we have all our players available we should do well. We had some problems with player availability in the week," Williams said.

"We also had to take off Dawkins early in the game as his knee started acting up early and we are hoping that his knee is okay enough for him to play," a hopeful Williams said.

MAN MOST IN FORM

Based on the quality of their line-up, Waterhouse should start favourites. In their squad is the competition's leading scorer and the man most in form in front of goal, Kevin Lamey. There is also Jomo Gordon and a midfield of Irvino English, Vincent Earle, Demar Phillips, Weston Forrest and Garfield Reid to choose from.

Village will look to Dawkins, Omar Allen and youngster Edward Campbell up front. Ian McAnuff will have to be at his best to drive his midfield teammates around him.

In other games on today, fourth-placed Tivoli Gardens will host their perennial rivals and end-of-first-round winners Arnett Gardens, who are four places below them. Seventh-placed Boys' Town will also seek to further cement their place in the league when they host the now relegation threatened Reno at Collie Smith Drive.

Another game of interest will be the Montego Bay clash between Seba United and Wadadah. At stake is more than bragging rights as Wadadah are still in danger of relegation. At Prison Oval, Rivoli United and Constant Spring will meet in a bottom-of-the-table clash.

STANDINGS

	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Harbour View	25	17	3	5	41	19	22	54
Waterhouse	24	14	7	3	42	25	17	49
Portmore	24	9	11	4	34	23	11	38
Tivoli Gardens	24	11	5	8	42	30	12	38
Village United	25	10	8	7	40	32	8	38
Seba United	25	9	5	11	33	34	-1	32
Boys' Town	24	7	10	7	24	25	-1	31
Arnett Gardens	24	8	7	9	31	34	-3	31
Wadadah	25	6	7	12	27	41	-14	25
Reno	25	5	8	12	18	28	-10	23
Rivoli United	25	2	12	11	18	40	-22	18
Constant Spring	24	2	11	11	18	37	-19	17