By Nodley Wright, Staff ReporterDON'T believe the hype. This is what Tivoli Gardens coach Geoffrey Maxwell will have you do about the impressive run of Hazard United in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League.
At 3:00pm at Railway Oval, Tivoli Gardens will be hosting the team which has lost just once this season and have started out the second round with four wins from four starts seven away from the target set by coach Lenworth Hyde but Maxwell believes a lot of that is just hype.
"I watched the video tape of Hazard's game against Rivoli and there are a lot of flaws in the defensive system of Hazard. They are not as smooth in attack as the press has made them out to be. I think there is a lot of hype around that," said Maxwell.
Despite the flaws he has identified in the Hazard team Maxwell is still willing to give them respect but has no doubts in his mind that his team have what it takes to end Hazard's win streak. "They are playing pretty well and we must give them credit," Maxwell said.
Roen Nelson, the competition's leading scorer with 16 goals is not the primary reason for Maxwell's respect of Hazard. It is their goalkeeper Shawn Sawyers who according to him was Hazard's saviour when both teams drew 0-0 in the first round of the competition.
"The last game that we played I think we dominated 80 to 85 per cent of the game," Maxwell recalled. "If it was not for outstanding goalkeeping by Sawyers, who at this point could be the best keeper in the League, we should have come away with three points at Ferdie Neita Sports Complex," he continued.
Today victory seems more likely for his team on home turf Maxwell feels.
"Playing at home having done so well against Arnett and a fairly good performance against Village on Sunday last coming away with a point which is better than nothing and with the side slowly gaining momentum, we can beat them."
The unflappable Hyde, still a picture of cool whenever he takes to the field himself, believes that as long as his team keeps to the formula which has worked for them they will do just fine.
"We just have to go out there and play our game. We pass the ball well and play with a lot of pace so we will see how they respond to that," said Hyde who tormented teams as a Tivoli Gardens representative.
Like his team with the threat of the rejuvenated Kevin Deerr and Nelson up front, Hyde is aware that Tivoli Gardens have a double threat of their own in Christopher Nicholas and Roland Dean.
"We'll have to be vigilant in marking these players (Dean and Nicholas) but they'll (Tivoli) have to have players who can keep up with Nelson, Deerr, Omar Daley and Anthony Modeste," said Hyde.
Both teams will have to make adjustments to their lineup due to injury and suspension. For Hazard United, defender Adrien Mitchell will join the injured Sheldon Battiste on the list of unavailables.
Defensive rock Marco McDonald is a definite non-starer for Tivoli while fellow defender Leighton Boxhill and midfielder Layton Barrett are doubtful. With or without these players the match should, however, be a cracker.
In other games around St Catherine and the Corporate Area fourth-placed Harbour View entertain a struggling Village, a revived Constant Spring host Reno while Rivoli and Wadadah will meet in the battle of strugglers at the Spanish Town Prison Oval.
