Nodley Wright, Staff ReporterNATIONAL PREMIER League leaders Reno (14 points) of Westmoreland will try to maintain their lead in the competition today and further advance their chances of a place in the first end-of-round final when they take on defending champions Arnett Gardens at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex.
This will be the second major game for them in five days as on Wednesday they came from behind twice to secure a precious point and in the process maintain their one-point lead at Railway Oval against Tivoli Gardens.
The Arnett Gardens/Reno clash is one of three scheduled for the Corporate Area and Portmore. In Portmore, Hazard, who area point behind Reno and who also have a realistic chance of making the end-of-round final, host Tivoli Gardens who are in the bottom half of the table at Ferdie Neita Park.
Constant Spring, third in the table and who also have eyes on the end-of-round final, will be involved in a key encounter against early leaders and current strugglers Harbour View at Constant Spring.
In other games, Wadadah host Waterhouse at Jarrett Park and Duhaney Park meet Village at Elleston Wakeland.
The match with perhaps the greatest interest on the day however will be that between the current leaders Reno and defending champions Arnett Gardens.
On Wednesday, Arnett Gardens suffered a slump in the form when they lost their second game of the season and the first on their home ground. Wadadah, who are now in fifth place, edged them 2-1 with the help of an own goal.
According to Arnett Gardens' coach Jerome Waite, Wednesday's performance was due largely to a taxing eight-day period during in which they played four matches and won the Western Union Super Cup in the Cayman Islands.
"I think fatigue was largely responsible for our performance on Wednesday. After playing Waterhouse the previous Wednesday, we travelled to the Cayman Islands on Thursday night. We got there early Friday morning and trained later that day before taking on Harbour View the next day (Saturday). We took on the Cayman Islands the following day before leaving Cayman on Monday where we got a connecting flight in Montego Bay," he said.
"Most of our players got in after 8:00 p.m. that evening and had to train the Tuesday before the Wednesday match so it was a tough eight days," Waite said.
For today's game, Waite believes his players should have had enough rest to give a good account of themselves. He regards the Reno team highly but expects his charges to prevail.
"I respect them because they are a good team. From what I have been hearing and based on the results that they have got, they done well so we are expecting a good game from them."
Besides their unexpected loss to Wadadah, the "Junglists" have also had another disappointment to contend with and are expected to go into today's game suffering from it. They will again be without their primary producer and last season's most valuable player, Fabian Davis. Davis injured his knee in Jamaica's final World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica on November 11 and has been out of action since. He is expected to be out for another two weeks and Waite sees this as a major blow to his club.
"It is really a set back for us because he is the player who has been getting the job done. All the other players are aware of his situation and they will have to step up," Waite said of the attacking midfielder who leads the competition's goalscoring charts.
