Speid backs players to win dicey decider
Published:Wednesday | September 29, 2021 | 2:44 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
WITH A place in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) final within their grasp, Cavalier Soccer Club hope that their recent reversal of past semi-final experiences will be permanent as they seek to close out Tivoli Gardens in their semi-final second-leg encounter today at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence at 2:30 p.m.
Waterhouse and Mount Pleasant will face off in the other return-leg semi-final at 12 p.m.
Cavalier take a slender one-goal advantage into the return leg after winning the first game on Saturday 1-0, thanks to a late strike from Collin Anderson.
Cavalier’s semi-final first-leg win was significant not only because it gave the team something to hold on to, but it broke an uncomfortable goalless streak in semi-finals past.
In both the 2017-18 and 2018-2019 seasons, Cavalier’s road to the title ended in the final four, without a single goal being scored in both legs. They were beaten 3-0 on aggregate in 2018 by eventual champions Portmore United; and the following season they were shut out by Waterhouse, by the same scoreline on aggregate.
NOT SATISFIED
While this change in semi-final form may present a positive for technical director Rudolph Speid, he is adamant that he is not satisfied with the advantage he currently has.
“I’m not trying to protect this lead. A 3-0 win would have been better, or maybe two, but this is one of the worst leads you can have going into the second leg,” Speid said, while indicating an attack-minded approach to score more goals.
His team could produce another late show to get through to the final, as they have managed to win back-to-back games scoring in the last 10 minutes.
Speid says that should it come to deciding the contest late, they are in the best physical condition to do so.
“Cavalier players, most of them are fast and skilful. That is the hallmark of Cavalier players. That is the reason why we can do it,” Speid said.
Although the tie is still delicately poised, Tivoli Gardens will likely have to call upon the services of back-up goalkeeper, Nicholas Clarke, to man the defence after starting keeper Kewong Watkins was sent off in the aftermath of that first-leg defeat.
Head coach Phillip Williams says that he is confident in the abilities of the shot-stopper, who has made four appearances this season. Additionally, he feels that the second encounter between these teams this season has given him familiarity with their playing style and ways they can take advantage of their chances, as compared to the first leg.
“There are some areas that we saw we could exploit some more, and we definitely will be doing some periodisation in those areas and see how we can execute it in the next leg,” Williams said.
Tivoli have not had the luxury of rest during this play-off run, having played three games with little recovery time, but Williams said that they have no choice but to push through and score goals if they want a place in the final.
However, Tivoli recently have saved their goalscoring for the second leg of play-offs ties so far, netting four past Vere United in the return leg of the quarter-finals after the first game finished in a goalless draw.