By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
AFTER A LONG season starting nearly nine months ago in mid September, the top four clubs in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL), league champions Tivoli Gardens, Harbour View, defending champions Portmore and Village United will square off in the two way semi-finals starting tomorrow.
Village, beaten by Portmore in the semi-finals last season, will host Tivoli Gardens at Jarrett Park, while Portmore and Harbour View will meet at the Spanish Town Prison Oval, both games starting at 4:00pm.
On form, Tivoli and Harbour View should be given the nod to advance to the finals set for May 12 and 16 but Portmore and Village must never be written off.
Village's coach Lloyd Williams said his charges are ready to "deliver the goods" after losing in their first semi-finals last season and losing in the finals of the JNBS Knock Out finals this season.
Williams said his team is well prepared going into the game as for the last seven rounds of the NPL they have played under "must win conditions" and this has readied the team for what is ahead of them.
Physically fitter
"The guys have recognised that they have played more finals than any other teams this year taking into consideration they had to win the last seven matches to get into the semi-finals and we only dropped a point in the last game when all we needed was a point, anything before that and we would not have been here," Williams said.
He said the benefit of that 'pressure cooker situation' was that the team is a lot more confident, physically fitter and they now have a belief they can win when they want to.
Beating the best team in the league so far will not be easy and Williams knows this but their 1-0 win the last time both teams met will give the Trelawny team a big boost.
Former national players Daniel Ricketts who has been scoring goals late in the season and Chris Dawes, Teofore Bennett, Ian McAnuff and Fabian Dawkins will hold the key to Village trying to take a lead from their 'home field advantage'.
Tivoli have been hailed as the champions in waiting by many after copping the $1 Million bonus for scoring the most points over the three preliminary rounds but they must step up now and prove their worth.
Coach Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey has managed to get the best out of his charges after a slow start to the season and is unbeaten at Jarrett Park this season.
The veteran
Fabian Davis has stepped up this season and is the defacto leader of the Tivoli team and his influence will go a long way in deciding how his team plays. He has scored four times sin his last two games at Jarrett Park but that was against relegated Seba United and will be up against tough Village team that wont give him the space in which to operate.
Kasai Hinds, Victor Thompson, Orane Simpson and Roland Dean along with the veteran and crafty Steve Green will be the players on whose shoulders the hopes of Tivoli Gardens will rest.
Prior to losing to Village in their last game, Tivoli had won the previous three meetings.
If Portmore are to advance to their second straight final they will have to do so without midfielder Omar Daley who was red carded against Village in his first game this season since returning from a loan stint to Reading in the English Division Two.
Portmore's coach Lenworth Hyde will have to find a suitable replacement for the skillful playmaker but no doubt he will be able as the team got to this point without Daley.
The teams have met just twice in the NPL this season with Harbour View winning 1-0 in the first round with the second game ending 0-0.
On paper there is not much to choose between the clubs but Harbour View ended the season with a better record, winning their last six games while Portmore were held to a draw by Village in their last game and their last three wins came at the expense of lowly placed teams such as Seba United, Invaders and Constant Spring.
