This is it! - Thomas warns his Portmore players ahead of RSPL final against Waterhouse

Defending champions Portmore United and last season’s beaten finalist, Waterhouse, have met three times during the regular season of the 2018-2019 Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) campaign, with all three matches ending in draws.

Tomorrow, the teams will lock horns to determine who will walk away with the RSPL title, and Portmore’s head coach, Shavar Thomas, is again expecting little difference between the teams, while noting that his players are well aware that chances will be few and far between in their 8:35 p.m. kick-off at the National Stadium.

“Even though they (Waterhouse) have lost quality in a couple areas, as they lost (Cordel) Benbow and Kemar (Bennett), they have had good replacements for those players, and they have produced all season. So we have to look out because we are playing against the whole Waterhouse team, and we know they are hungry. But we are equally hungry and ready for the challenge,” Thomas told The Sunday Gleaner.

“I can’t say much more about our players this season as they have been really consistent. The plan was to take it game by game, and that worked very well. The focus is always on the next game, so now, the focus is Waterhouse, and we expect our players to come out and be tough to play against, execute on the offence and on defence, and once we do that, it will bring us success,” he added.

THE FINAL BATTLE

“We have played them three times, and all three games have ended in a tie, so the difference (tomorrow) is there is no more games to be played after Monday night. This is the last one, so we have to give it our all, we have to get it right. There is no chance to fix it in the next game. Our players understand that, and that will be the difference. It’s our trophy to defend, and we are confident we will keep it,” Thomas said.

Portmore, who finished on top of the regular season standings, advanced to the final after beating Mount Pleasant 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals, while Waterhouse, who ended the campaign second to Portmore on points, eased past Cavalier in a 3-0 aggregate scoreline.