'Hungry' MoBay look to devour Portmore

Nodley Wright, Gleaner Writer

Local football will take on a new appearance tonight with the official unveiling of Monday Night Football, in the second end-of-round final between Portmore United and Montego Bay United, at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.

The 9p.m. encounter pits first end-of-round final winners and current leaders of the competition, Portmore United, against the form team of the second round, Montego Bay United.

At stake is a prize money of $250,000 for the winners and a trophy, while the losers will collect $150,000.

For Portmore United, a win would give them their second end-of-round title of the season and confirm their dominance in the league, while a win for Montego Bay United would cement their rebirth in the country's top league and return a trophy to the silverware-starved western Jamaica.

"For us the bottom line is that we have not won anything in a while. Our region has not won any silverware for sometime and we will not turn back now that we are on the path, but the work has to be done on the field on the day," said Montego Bay United boss, Orville Powell.

"We know what it takes. We want to lift back this region. We know that when the west does well the country does well so we want to play our part in lifting back the country," Powell continued.

Like any other club, the financial rewards of winning, pride and bragging rights also serve as motivating factors.

"We are going for the trophy and the money. My players heard the Portmore coach on radio saying that they will allow our team to celebrate being in the final, but they will win the trophy because they are hungry, they need the money. They came away with the view that they are saying that we are there for the hype and they want to dispel that," Powell explained.

In their march towards victory, Montego Bay United will be without their leading goalscorer, Mauracio Gordon, but should be able to call on Omar Gordon, Leon Irving, Allan Ottey, captain Keneil Moodie, Troy Reid, Oliver Trail and Jermaine Woozencroft.

Portmore United, while recognising that they will start as favourites, will approach the game cautiously, according to coach Calvin Lewis.

"We are approaching this game cautiously. They are the form team, gave us a scare down in Montego Bay but we fought back gallantly and gained a point in the end," Lewis said, making reference to the last encounter between the two teams where Portmore United dug deep in the second half to come from three goals down inside the last eight minutes to draw at the Catherine Hall Sports Complex in Montego Bay.

"We know what they have to offer, but we just have to play our game. We would love for it to be two in a row. We want to do our best and win the final," Lewis said.

In the first match of the season played between the two teams, Portmore United emerged 2-1 winners in the game played at the Ferdie Neita Park, home of Portmore United. Then Portmore United were at their strongest, but tonight could be different as Portmore United will be without two of their key players, who will be in the United States on trials with Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs.

"Alanzo Adlam and Andrew Vanzie will be out and this should affect us a bit in terms of chemistry, with Vanzie as our holding midfielder and Adalm as our leading goalscorer, but we have a good squad with young players capable of doing the job and we will rely on them," added Lewis.

Lewis said the youthfulness of his squad will not be a problem, outlining that a similarly youthful squad was fielded in the first end-of-round final against Tivoli Gardens and that is just the makeup of their squad at the moment.

"Our group is a youthful one. We just have about 10 players who cannot play in the Under-21, but it is a good balance," reasoned Lewis, who will be looking to captain Ricardo Cousins, Adrian Reid, Eric Vernan, Roen Nelson and Tremaine Stewart as the mature players in the squad to provide leadership.