By Nodley Wright, Staff ReporterNATIONAL PREMIER League leaders Reno travel to Kingston to take on Tivoli Gardens at Railway Oval in today's top game of the competition.
Tivoli Gardens are close to the bottom half of the table.
With three games to go for six of the teams in the competition before the first end-of-round final, points are crucial. Four other teams, Hazard, Arnett Gardens, Harbour View and Wadadah, will play an outstanding match because Arnett Gardens and Harbour View were away for the latter part of last week playing in the Western Union Super Cup in the Cayman Islands.
Arnett Gardens won that tournament and last year's winners, Harbour View, ended behind the other competitor, the national team of hosts, Cayman Islands.
According to Tivoli Gardens' coach Dave Clarke, their focus will be on scoring goals as they muffed many easy chances and lost Sunday against Waterhouse to slip to eighth position in the 10-team league on six points.
"It's uncomfortable being at the bottom," Clarke said of their position, adding that "... it's not comforting that we're playing at home. The spectators will be a little impatient but it simply means we'll just have to work a little harder and learn to score goals all over again".
Reno's coach, Everton Tomlinson, expects a hard game but believes his charges can get full points.
"As a team that is preparing to win the championship, we are expecting tough challenges from all opposition so our ultimate aim is to approach these games without any doubt or fear," Tomlinson said. "We will be cautious and we'll be positive at the same time, but we want to win all games."
Another game of interest is Constant Spring against Hazard. A win for Constant Spring would see them jump above Hazard and move closer to the end-of-round final.
Arnett Gardens, fresh from their Super Cup win, will host Wadadah at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex. A win for Arnett Gardens would keep them in contention for that big end-of-round date. Wadadah boast potent goalscorer Thomas Grant but he will have to outscore Arnett's Walter Boyd, Adonis Maxwell and Kwame Richardson.
At Ferdie Neita Park, the revitalised Waterhouse host the promoted Village United who are no pushovers. Another game of interest will be the matchup between the struggling Duhaney Park and former champions Harbour View who have had a run of three successive losses.
