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‘Golden’ footballers battle for spot in final

Published:Saturday | April 16, 2016 | 5:23 PM
Joyce Fletcher
Trevor 'TC' Campbell (right) of Santos and Caple Clarke of Park Rovers tussle for the ball, while Santos' Bryan Leon (left) looks on, during the 2015 final of the Bull Investments/Cable Pro Data Services Golden League football competition at the National Water Commission playing field, Mona. Both teams will be involved in today's League and Knock-out semi-finals.

WITH last year's winners eliminated, a new champion is set to be crowned as the semi-finals for both the League and Knockout competitions in the 2015-16 Bull Investment Limited-Cable Pro Data Services-sponsored Golden League football competition will be played today at the National Water Commission playing field, Mona.

At 3:30 p.m., Harbour View will tackle Kush and Park Rovers will face Nautica in the knockout competition, and at 5 p.m., Kings will play Real Mona and Santos battle Dunn's All Stars in the league.

This competition is for players over 45 years and a few former national players will be competing. The Jermaine Johnson-coached Harbour View will be looking to Ian McNaughton, Neil Stewart, Paul Aiken, Donovan Green and Corey Rowe to get them in the final, while Kush will be looking to player-coach Vincent McGowan, Lance Craig, Mario Hackett, Omar McDermott and Lennox Broderick.

Park Rovers, who were the league champions for 2014 and 2015, will be trying to win their first knockout title and will be looking to Woodrow Coleman, Garfield Cooke, Jerome Wilson, Jeffrey James and Donald Broderick. Nautica will look to player-coach Lenworth 'Teacher' Hyde, Donovan Lofters, Patrick Williams, Devon Hardware, and Barrington Washington.

Santos are favourites to win their fourth Golden League title as they are the only unbeaten team in the competition. All four semi-finalists are from the same preliminary zone, which Santos won by 10 points. Their defence is very mean and has only conceded one goal in 13 matches this season.

Coach Lyndon Dawes is expecting them to go all the way and will look to Trevor 'TC' Campbell, Bryan Leon, Joseph Henry, Jeffrey Dillion, Clint Reid, and Ian Burnett for victory.

Dunn's All Stars is the only team to defeat Santos as they stopped them 2-0 in the knockout competition in January.

However, Santos returned the favour, winning 1-0 in the league's preliminary round.

CONFIDENTCOACH

Coach Norris Grant is confident Dunn's will win again and is looking to former Arnett Gardens striker Denton Shedden, Michael McQueen, Delroy Dixon, Raymond Williams, and Steve Dunn.

The other semi-final will see Kings playing Real Mona. Kings' player-coach David Williams will be looking to Nicholas Ziadie, Gary Peryer, Robert Murray, and Chris Denny, while the Ian Bond-coached Real Mona will look to Christopher Williams, Roger Bishop, Crafton Walker, Chris Green, and the prolific Mark Miller, who still plays for the Jamaica Defence Force in the KSAFA Major League football competition.