Nodley Wright, Freelance Writer

Tivoli Gardens' Dwight Heron (left) and Harbour View's Jomo Gordon (right).

THE HARBOUR View Mini-Stadium will be a hive of activity this afternoon as it hosts the double-header of the first Coca Cola Under-21 final between Harbour View and Portmore United, and then the Cash Plus Premier League (CPPL) end-of-second-round final between Tivoli Gardens and Waterhouse.

While the Under-21s have shown that the talent cupboard is not as bare as was once thought, the main focus of this afternoon's double-header will be the clash of the CPPL rivals. No contest between these teams has ever been anything but intense and this one should be even more so.

Among the things that will make this match a must-see is the fact that this is the second successive end-of-round final for Tivoli. In the first round they came up short against Portmore United and will be going all out not to be denied a second time.

Gain satisfaction

Coach Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey has made it clear that he will be stepping away from the sidelines at the end of this season to focus on the field that made him a household name - music. He would not want to go out with a whimper.

Perhaps, the factor that will be mostly responsible for adding some fire to this matchup is the outcome of their last meeting. Then Waterhouse stopped Tivoli Gardens 2-0 in a hot-tempered clash which saw opposing players Garfield Reid of Waterhouse and Oraine Simpson of Tivoli Gardens fighting.

The Tivoli Gardens supporters also contend that they were assaulted after the game. Nothing would give them greater satisfaction than to whip Waterhouse on the field.

Quality players

Waterhouse coach Wayne Fairclough knows that today's game will be much tougher than the last.

"The 2-0 win by the Waterhouse team is history. We will have to repeat and even exceed that level of performance to get a similar result, but I am confident that it can be done and that is our intention,: Fairclough said. "Tivoli Gardens are a team of character. They never give up so I know they will be coming at us but I know that we have the quality players with the right mindset to get the job done."

In terms of quality players, Fairclough is on the ball as with veteran goalscorer Kevin Lamey enjoying a rebirth, Jomo Gordon, Leon Strickland, Roberto Fletcher, who returned to Waterhouse from Tivoli Gardens in January, and Newton Sterling competing for a position on the forward line, they will be very difficult to contain.

Irvino English, Damion Powell, Marco McDonald, Desmond Break-enridge and Weston Forrest are also proven players.

Affected by injury

Tivoli Gardens are not coming into this game in the best possible form as on Thursday they were humiliated by their biggest rivals, Arnett Gardens, 4-0 in Jackie Bell Knockout action.

How they respond to that thumping will be key to their performance, said manager Brian Rose.

"Well, after the game on Thursday we were really disappointed and we had a team meeting. Following the meeting we realised that we were making some mistakes and we focused on correcting those mistakes in the training sessions," said Rose, whose team ended the second round with an away loss to St Georges of Portland.

Another thing that could go against the Tivoli aggregation is the absence of four key players - the injured trio of Kasai Hinds, Leon Gordon and Kevin Blackford as well as the suspended Oraine Simpson.

In captain Christopher Jackson, Navion Boyd, Roland Dean, Horace Howell, Steve Green, Edsel Scott, Dwight Heron, and Akeem Weir, they have players with character and ones who have delivered for them all season.

A similar performance is expected from them today, and if they deliver, then a 'Garden' party could be a reality.

At Harbour View Mini-Stadium

4:00 p.m. - Portmore United vs Harbour View (Under-21s)

6:30 p.m.- Tivoli Gardens vs Waterhouse