Big clash in the Jungle

Nodley Wright, Staff Reporter

IT IS now on the line. After months of campaigning for the that big title shot it is finally here. All the other challengers have been dispatched and all that remains are the two heavyweights facing up to each other.

Round one of the Craven A National Premier League finals gets going at 5:00 p.m. at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex between Hazard United in their white and blue strips and Arnett Gardens in their red and black.

Both teams have cancelled out each other on the four occasions they have met this season. But it is more than just their encounters this season that bind them together. In Hazard's only other final appearance they defeated Arnett Gardens this season's defending champions. Hazard won the first leg 2-0 with Arnett Gardens winning the second 2-1.

The big rematch has taken 10 years but unlike Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson both teams are still close to the top of their games. So even is the matchup that neither coach - Jerome Waite of Arnett Gardens nor Lenworth Hyde of Hazard United - wants to make a prediction.

"Both teams are in good condition. Good frame of mind. They are playing good football. It will be an end-to-end action and I expect this Hazard team to come to play the best game at the Sports Complex," Waite said.

Said Hyde: "We just have to play our game. We are playing better every day and we just have to try to attack and try to win the game. We will make no predictions, we just have to stick to our game plan and attack."

Arnett Gardens, because the game is being played at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex, could be seen to have a major advantage as they are hosting the game and they have perhaps the largest fan base in the country. However, Waite is not of this view.

"Arnett Gardens will be under more pressure seeing that the game is at home. I do not think it is so much of an advantage. Both teams want to win and Arnett Gardens have played games in the Sports Complex where we have won, lost and drawn so it is not so much of an advantage," he said.

Waite's view that his team would be under even more pressure was shared by Hazard's Hyde.

"It is their home ground but we are not afraid of playing there. Once the turf is all right, the field is okay we will play there. We have played there twice before this season and we played well, the crowd has nothing to do with it once the team is focussed.

"We will be under no pressure. The pressure will be on Arnett Gardens to perform," he said. Hyde has also found an advantage in this year's four drawn games. This advantage, he says, is in the fact they took the lead in two of the four games, Arnett led in one while the other ended 0-0.

Both teams boast an abundance of talent and a significant number of players on both sides have been in or around the national or national age group teams. In this regard Hazard would be ahead of Arnett Gardens with players such as Chris Dawes, Omar Daley, Kevin Deerr, Paul Young, Wolry Wolfe, Shawn Sawyers, Sean Fraser, Claude Davis, Sheldon Battiste and Derrick Smith while Arnett Gardens have Julian McLeish, Eugene Barnes, Gregory Messam, Fabian Davis, Gerald Neil, Kevin Wilson and Walter Boyd. Add to this number the less heralded Roen Nelson (the competition's leading scorer), Andrew Morrison and Kirk Ramsay for Hazard and the livewire Jonathan Williams, Oneil Dunn, Jermaine Benjamin and Denton Shedden for Arnett Gardens.

What could separate these two teams is desire. Hazard's team is younger and is possibly more blessed with the spread of talent but they have fallen at vital points in the season - failing at the last hurdle in the race for an end of round final spot.

Arnett Gardens on the other hand have shown that charcter and desire succeeding where Hazard have failed. Wednesday's come-from-behind win over Harbour View was another example. Both coaches know what they are going up against and this is how they see it.

"Put it this way. Both legs will be hard. It can be easy depending on how well the players apply themselves in the finishing third. This is not a game that I expect Hazard to just relax and allow the defending champions to just trample them," said Waite.

"They have a good defensive unit. Based on statistics, we also have a good defensive unit. Hazard have the leading goalsorer in the NPL and we have the best offensive unit in the NPL so we expect end to end action," he said.

Hyde said: "Our defence is very, very good. Our goalkeeper is the best in the league. My concern is just our marking. I respect the forwards of the Arnett team, Boyd and Wilson are good and clever players, but we have a sturdy defensive line. We have not given up a lot of goals and Arnett Gardens have just scored one or two more goals than us.

"We are very sturdy at the back and that has carried us right through the season so we will try to maintain that and shut them down as much as possible then unleash our attack to see if their defence can withstand the pressure.

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