3 days ago
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WATERHOUSE’S PLACE in the top six in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) will be tested again this evening when they face off against high-flying Cavalier, fresh from their morale-boosting performance against Inter Miami in their Concacaf Champions Cup first-leg, round-of-16 match, at the Waterhouse Stadium at 6.
In other key matchups, Dunbeholden take on leaders Mount Pleasant at Dunbeholden Sports Complex and Tivoli travel to Ferdi Neita Park to play Portmore.
At the Harbour View Mini-Stadium, Harbour View welcome Molynes while Vere tackle Humble Lion in the bottom-of-the-table clash and Clarendon derby. All games start at 3:30 p.m.
Waterhouse sit in the sixth and final playoff spot on 37 points, the same as Racing, and are five points ahead of Tivoli and Dunbeholden in eighth and ninth, respectively.
Waterhouse have six defeats and just one win in their last eight matches, and another defeat or draw today could give Racing an advantage if they win against the dangerous Arnett on Monday.
Cavalier are fourth in the table with 44 points, and although they are in much better form than their opponents, they will have one eye on the second leg of the Champions Cup against Inter Miami this Thursday.
“We need the three points but we have to be wary of the match coming up on Thursday,” Cavalier coach Rudolph Speid said.
“So we need the three points but we might have to play some different people. So we definitely have to play some different people to save the legs. We have no choice.”
Despite Waterhouse’s poor run of form, Speid believes the Drewsland outfit always raise their level when playing the big teams.
“They are going to be difficult. Waterhouse have lost to some little teams but they defeated Portmore. So apparently, when they play the better teams, they perform better and we had a very hard game on Thursday.
“So Sunday is probably not enough time to recover and we travelled too, so I don’t know if we will be at our best. We will have all the players but we will have to rotate and try and get a positive result.”
He added also that: “It is good we have a good cushion to stay in the top six. If it was a case where we didn’t have a cushion, we might have had to start our best team, but we have a cushion, so we definitely have to rotate.”
At Ferdi Neita Park, fifth-place Portmore (43 points) will look to keep the distance between them, Waterhouse, Racing and other pursuers.
Tivoli are also looking behind them and, after fluctuating performances in recent weeks, will need to turn their form around to keep Racing and Dunbeholden at bay.
In-form Dunbeholden entertain leaders Mount Pleasant (65 points) at home and coach Harold Thomas, who left the St Ann club abruptly at the start of the season, will be motivated to get one over on his former employers and well as keep the team’s top-six hopes alive.
The game between Harbour View (24) and Molynes (26) will be evenly poised. However, Harbour have shown better form in recent weeks and will start with the edge in this one.
The bottom-of-the-table clash between the two Clarendon teams can also go either way and might come down to home advantage.
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