JPL returns today with triple header
Published:Friday | August 27, 2021 | 12:08 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
Dunbeholden manager Paul Christie and Humble Lion head coach Andrew Price say, despite limited training time, both teams are adequately prepared for their rescheduled Jamaica Premier League fixture at the UWI-JFF Captain Burrell Centre of Excellence today at 1 p.m.
The game is a triple-header as last weekend’s fixtures were postponed because of the no-movement days on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday imposed by the Government to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Both Christie and Price said that they have made do with individual workout programmes for the teams to compensate for the three days of inactivity. Christie says that the limited preparation time will not deter them from getting a result.
“It’s not an excuse because, what we are facing at Dunbeholden, it’s safe for me to assume that other clubs are facing these same challenges,” Christie said. “We know that it is difficult but we are trying to make the best of the situation and we are preparing the very best way we can and just go out there and compete.”
Price says that he is satisfied with the responses from his team over the no-movement days as well as in their training session as they go into a game that could decide their play-off fates.
“I believe that sufficient work was done by the players during the [period], based on the workload that they did,” he said. “So I expect them to be up for the game [today],” Price said.
AT THE BOTTOM OF THE TABLE
Humble Lion are at the bottom of the table with sixth points, but they are still four points adrift of the play-off positions, because of their 2-0 win over Harbour View two weeks ago. However, they have already played eight games and would need to win their last two and get assistance from elsewhere to sneak into the play-offs. Anything less will mathematically rule them out.
With that knowledge, Price said that he wanted to see the same type of desire that was shown in the Harbour View game, believing that they can, at the least, help themselves if they do their job.
“I want us to go out and play with some passion,” he said. “We saw a warrior-looking Humble Lion (last week) and that’s the Humble Lion that I know,” Price told The Gleaner. “And I know we are capable to go out there and fight, to leave it all out on the field. And, if we go out there with that attitude and put the necessary impetus into the game, I believe we should get a positive result.”
Dunbeholden have play-off aspirations of their own and are tied with Waterhouse and Tivoli Gardens with 10 points. While they are in seventh place because of an inferior goal differential to Tivoli Gardens, they could enter the top six with a win.
Fourth-place Mount Pleasant will look to keep hold of their top-six position when they face third-place Cavalier in the final game of the day at 3:30 p.m. Mount Pleasant are on 11 points while Cavalier have 12.
Mount Pleasant technical director, Wally Downes, said that he is confident of his team’s ability to keep their poise in the midst of a tense battle to get play-off places.
“The league is very tight and I got the feeling that it would be like this,” Downes said. “We are in a position now where we can push on in the final three games and maintain the position that we are in, but hopefully drive up the league as well.”
Molynes United will face Harbour View in the first game of the day at 10 am.
Today’s matches @ UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence
Harbour View v Molynes United 10:00 a.m.
Dunbeholden v Humble Lion 1:00 p.m.
Cavalier v Mount Pleasant 3:30 p.m.