Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
MID-SEASON CHAMPIONS Rivoli could secure a place in the semi-finals of the National A League this afternoon if they can get maximum points from Axum when they meet at the Westmoreland Oval at 3:00 p.m.
Rivoli have a seven points lead over the rest of the Zone A with Axum and Maverley/Hughenden tied on 21 points each, in a deadheat for the other place.
A win for Spanish Town-based Rivoli today would mean they could only be caught by Maverley/Hughenden but the Kingston team would have to win all its remaining games including today's away to Frome.
The battle for the places from Zone B is still wide open, but the odds would favour joint leaders Seba United and Bull Bay - both on 30 points, six more than third placed Mt Salem.
Today Seba will be away to Central Link while Bull Bay will be home to the struggling Olympic Gardens.
The hunt for places in the semi-finals took on a more frantic nature recently after the Jamaica Football Federation re-issued the return round schedule which sees the teams playing a maximum of six games in Zone B and five in Zone A.
Three teams are already out of the running for a place in the semi-finals from Zone B. Olympic Gardens, relegated from the National Premier League, newcomers Israel and last year's semi-finalists Black Stars have no chance of making it to the semi-finals and must now hope to retain their places in the league next season.
While none of the teams in Zone A are already eliminated from semi-final consideration, today's round of matches could further separate the teams at either end of the table.
While Rivoli will be expected to continue their great form of late, Axum will be at home and will be entertaining thoughts of a semi-final place of their own.
Rivoli won their first round game 5-1 however and will go into the game with a big psychological advantage.
Maverley will be keeping an ear open to the results of that game as they could take over second place in the group with four games to be played.
Maverley won their first round game 2-0 but the Frome team has proven it can compete with the best and will not be pushovers.
With third placed Mt. Salem idle this week, leaders Seba United and Bull Bay should increase their leads in Zone B when they take on Central Link and Olympic respectively.
Bull Bay had to settle for a 0-0 result against Olympic in the first round but have improved in leaps and bounds since and are heavily favoured to take all three points.
