Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterNATIONAL PREMIER League (NPL) points leaders Hazard will be seeking their sixth straight win this afternoon when they host former champions Tivoli Gardens at the Ferdie Neita Park, starting at 3:00.
This game is one of six scheduled as the NPL continues with its seventh set of matches in the first round and most teams are expected to be back at full strength as local members of the national team that drew 1-1 with Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday morning were expected to return to the island yesterday and should be available for their respective clubs today.
Hazard and Tivoli Gardens will welcome back important members of their defence in Claude Davis and Marco McDonald respectively.
Village United and Harbour View will meet at the Elletson-Wakeland Community Centre in Falmouth in what could be the most competitive game of the afternoon as a point separates them. Harbour View are in third place on 13 points, one more than the Trelawny team.
At Ferdie Neita Park, Hazard are expected to have their hands full against Tivoli Gardens who have earned seven points from their four games played so far.
Hazard, who shook off their opening game loss to promoted Bull Bay to win their next five - scoring a healthy 13 goals in the process, will look to Kirk Ramsay, Andrew Morrison and Roen Nelson to take the fight to the Tivoli team that will be expecting former national Under-23 striker Christopher Nicholas, captain Steve Green and Layton Barrett to help them to their third win of the season.
The game will also feature the league's most prolific scoring attack, Hazard's with 13 goals, against the best defence, Tivoli with three goals conceded.
McDonald's expected return should further fortify the Tivoli defence and he is expected to team up with Kasai Hinds and Craig White.
Meanwhile, Village United and defending champions Arnett Gardens will both be hoping to extend unbeaten streaks when they host Harbour View and Bull Bay respectively.
Village have dropped just two points in their three home games and assistant coach Edwin Alcock said they intend to win all their remaining home games this round.
Alcock and Harbour View's coach Donovan Hayles were full of complements for their opponents and each said they were expecting a tough game.
Alcock, who conditions the Village team along with German coach Albert Mayr, said that while Harbour View were a "quality team, they are ripe for the picking, based on what we have seen of them this season".
The Trelawny outfit could be without three starters, Fabian Dawkins who leaves the island this weekend for a trial stint with a Romanian club; central defender Kirk Hendricks, who is on duty with the Jamaica Defence Force's (JDF) national reserves and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts who went on as a second-half substitute in the friendly international against Japan.
Alcock said however that their bench was strong and they had quality replacements at each position and there would not be any fall-off in the quality of the play.
Up to Friday evening Harbour View were uncertain if they would have the services of striker Fabian Taylor who was also away in Asia with the national team and Hayles conceded that to get three points at Village would be a "big win for us".
