Stewart...Two things have happened that have made us confident.Audley Boyd
, Assistant Sport Editor
TEAMS ARE looking to ride their way to success on the crest of wave now sweeping local football when the Wray and Nephew National Premier League resumes this afternoon.
The national team breathed new life into the sport with an effervescent 2-0 win over Uruguay midweek and coaches of some teams playing later said they are looking to catch the spirit.
A full slate of six third-round matches will be held today after a two-week break.
The schedule reads: Reno vs Arnett Gardens at Frome; Rivoli vs Waterhouse at Prison Oval; Harbour View vs Star Cosmos at Compound; Tivoli vs Village at Railway Oval; Constant Spring vs Portmore at Constant Spring and Invaders vs Seba at the Elliston Wakeland Community Centre.
Game time has been pushed back by half hour to 3:30 p.m. The matches will be preceded by national Under-21 league contests among the same clubs at the same venues at 1:00 p.m.
The main matches among the seniors are at the Railway and Prison ovals where top four teams and others on the fringe are due to meet.
Tivoli Gardens, with a seven-point margin atop the standings at 51, will take centre stage at home against Village, who are lying fifth with 42 points, just two off second-place teams Harbour View and Lenny Hyde's defending champions, Portmore United.
The homesters beat Village 2-0 away and 2-1 at home in previous clashes this season. Also, Tivoli have been displaying very good form by going unbeaten through the last round en route to the End of Second Round Trophy; and winning their first two third round games.
This, however, does not mean that victory must be taken for granted this time as Village actually played well in both contests but did not match that competitiveness with good finishing.
Both teams have a striker whose conversion rate in recent times far exceeds that of any on their team and they will likely figure in the anticipated goal count. Christopher Nicholas is the man for Tivoli and for Village it's Ian McAnuff.
Hot competition is expected, too, at Prison Oval where Waterhouse will look to put some steam back into their campaign. The Drewsland team was red hot in the first round and duly emerged as its champions.
Rivoli had the thermometer bubbling at similar levels in the second round and got to the final. They showed the effects of losing the final to Tivoli weren't traumatic while beating Portmore for the St. Catherine knockout title during the NPL break.
The KO title, and the Reggae Boyz' midweek success, have sent Rivoli's enthusiasm soaring for this match-up.
"Two things have happened that have made us confident," admitted Bradley Stewart, Rivoli's coach.
"One is the KO trophy that we've been able to take from Hazard, the national champions, which is also a team we had not been able to beat previously.
"Wednesday's game gave us another bit of a filip because of Garfield's (Reid) performance. We feel that he did extremely well in the team and it makes the rest of the players that more confident," added Stewart of the Rivoli fullback who made his senior national debut.
They have ambitions of making the semis and Stewart said: "We're going to play and play hard and hope that the chances come our way. What we want to do is to get into the top four so every game we play we want to get maximum points. We're trying to get in there too."
So, too, are the Waterhouse crew, who have also drawn motivation from the national seniors.
"Most teams will get a lift by that victory from the national team on Wednesday," Waterhouse's assistant coach, Barry Brown, said. "Hopefully Rivoli are not in the spirit because Garfield had such an excellent game, I hope he doesn't turn up in the same mood."
With eight more matches to decide the top four placings, Brown said: "We're in a good position now to make the semi-finals. We only have to continue and be positive about it.
"I believe we need to continue winning ... games that we need to win we need to win," he stressed.
