Portmore vs Arnett: Coaches expect tough battle

Portmore United and Arnett Gardens enter today’s feature match of the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) desperate for a victory at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence.

Match time is 1 p.m. In the second match of the double-header, Molynes United will oppose Vere United at 3:15 p.m.

Portmore United and Arnett Gardens will enter today’s match after recording contrasting results in their opening matches in the competition last week.

The Lenworth Hyde-coached Portmore drew 1-1 with Tivoli Gardens while Arnett Gardens were beaten 2-1 by Cavalier in their encounter.

Hyde said his team has worked well in their preparations for today’s encounter and, therefore, they are very eager to secure their first victory of the season.

“We are expecting a tough game from Arnett Gardens, seeing that they are coming off a defeat,” said Hyde. “We have prepared well for this game because the players are a lot more focused compared to the previous game. So we want to get all three points to stay in touch with the leaders.”

NO ROOM FOR ERROR

Hyde pointed out that they view every game in the competition as crucial and, therefore, there is no room for error.

“It is important that we get up into the top three and try and maintain that right throughout the season, and so we have to take each game seriously,” he said.

Arnett Gardens lost to Cavalier after giving up a goal seven minutes into injury time. They had scored the equaliser just two minutes earlier.

Head coach of Arnett Gardens, Paul ‘Tegat’ Davis, said his team learnt a lot from that game and they are confident of victory today.

“After the defeat against Cavalier last week, we sat and looked at the mistakes and we said we needed to get three points from this game, and that is what we are going after,” said Davis.

“It is going to be a tough game. Portmore are always a tough team to play against but we will be up for the challenge,” he added.