Tivoli look to make home advantage count
Published:Tuesday | April 3, 2018 | 12:00 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Tivoli Gardens coach, Omar Edwards, is convinced that his team has the measure of Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) quarter-final opponents Cavalier and expects his players to show their superiority when the two meet in their second-leg quarter-final match today at 3:05 p.m. at the Edward Seaga Complex.
Edwards noted that his team had neutralised Cavalier's offence and opened their defence every time they met this season, apart for their first-leg quarter-final encounter, which ended 0-0, and he expects complete domination of their rivals before the home fans this afternoon.
"We played away (Sunday) and left with a point. We managed to play some good football and create opportunities that we should have capitalised on. We also kept a clean sheet," Edwards said.
"We nullified their attacking thrust in most of the recent encounters against them. I am anticipating they will play on the counter[attack] and we will do everything to see off their threat and exploit their weaknesses. Every time we play against Cavalier, we get a favourable result. It give us a psychological boost, but the coaching staff will ask the players to be tactically disciplined so that at the end of the game, we leave on the brighter side," he said.
NO FEAR
Cavalier's coach, Rudolph Speid, says he has no fear and nothing but victory on his mind going to the Edward Seaga Complex.
"We are not afraid. We are going there to play the way we planned. We don't believe for one minute we will not win the game. In KSAFA, nobody can say they have a home-court advantage. They (Tivoli) will have the 12th man, but if you look at their record, they have not done well in a couple of games at the last part of the season. They got some beatings and we are mindful of that," Speid said.
Although Cavalier have not won at the Edward Seaga Complex in three seasons, Speid believes that jinx is about to end.
"There is no concern. Based on the law of averages, you know that the longer you take to beat somebody, the closer you are to beating them. So I am not perturbed. I know that on any given day, Cavalier can beat any team. We understand the task, and the players are fully focused," he added.