DeOliveira
Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
WESTERN TEAMS will be seeking crucial points today as the third round of the Wray & Nephew National Premier League continues.
Village and Invaders will meet at the Elliston Wakeland Centre in the third Trelawny derby this season, starting at 3:00 p.m. while Seba United will host Constant Spring at Jarrett Park for the second time in just less than three weeks, starting at 6:00 p.m.
All three western teams will be desperate for points as the race for the semi-finals and to secure places next season heats up.
Village, who have not won in four rounds, should hold the upper hand over Invaders, who are coming off back-to-back 2-3 losses while Seba have not won in three games since Englishman Tommy Taylor took over.
HUNTING A SEMI-FINAL POSITION
The Trelawny teams appear likely to be meeting in the third and final time this season with Village hunting a semi-final position whereas Invaders are trying to prove they are more than flash-in-the-pans and maintain their place for next season.
The game will take on an added dimension, at least for Village, as they will be playing for the first time in front of former national Technical Director Clovis de Oliveira who joined the club last week as an advisor but no doubt will add his voice the instructions shouted from the bench.
The two previous games were drawn 1-1 and 0-0 but it would be a safe bet to say that neither team will be satisfied with a point today.
Village are in fifth place on 39 points, almost double their inner-parish rivals who are 10th on 20 points.
Village's coach, Lloyd Williams, told The Gleaner recently that he was hoping de Oliveira's presence would add some urgency to his team and the odds would favour them unless Invaders can snap out of their four-game losing streak.
Derbies have managed to bring out the best in teams and Invaders would appear to have had the better of the two games played so far. After giving up six goals in their last two games and with number one goalkeeper Richard McCallum with the national Under-23 team in Mexico, the Village strikers Warren Ukah, Fabian Dawkins and Teofore Bennett will be licking their lips at the prospects of taking on the Invaders defence.
At Jarrett Park, Taylor will be desperate for his first win as after taking over the club. They have earned just one point from three games while conceding seven goals.
Seba are desperate for goals having failed to find the back of the net over the last two matches, both at home, and this could result in Taylor doing some more shifting around of his line-up.
His putting the team's top scorer, Kemar Mills, at right back in their 0-4 loss to Portmore on Sunday raised some eyebrows.
Taylor will have the services of former national strikers Jermaine Anderson and Lacon Brissett along with Wilfred Smith, Denzil Watson and Denton Vidal, if he has recovered sufficiently from a shoulder injury to choose from.
Constant Spring escaped with a 1-1 draw at home against Village last Sunday but will fancy their chances of grabbing a second straight win over the Montego Bay team in less than a month.
New signing, Newton Sterling, who grabbed the equaliser last week could force his way into Maxwell's starting team and will accompany Markino Gillings, Sheldon Wedderburn and Oniel Morrison while Fabian Watkins should return from suspension to add some stability to the midfield.
