Photo: Rivoli United have their fate in their own hands – beat Humble Lion and they remain in the Red Stripe Premier League.
Four teams, Waterhouse FC, Cavalier SC, Rivoli United and FC Reno, are far from safe on the final day of the 2015-2016 season of the Red Stripe Premier League, in what has been a season of intrigue, shock and excitement.
While promoted Portmore United FC stunned everyone by winning the regular season on Thursday, new entrants the University of the West Indies FC are still in the hunt for a place in the semi-finals, defying all the odds in the first season of top flight football. While these two teams have shone brightly this season, it has been a miserable time for former champions Waterhouse who have propped up the table for virtually the entire campaign.
Waterhouse will host Boys Town FC at Drewsland on Sunday, fully aware that they need to not only take all three points from the Andrew Price coached team, but pray that results elsewhere go their way. The Anthony Patrick coached team has 31 points and can only escape relegation if two of the other three teams in relegation trouble lose.
Cavalier has had a steady but worrying decline in the last few weeks which saw them finally slip into the bottom two when they lost in midweek. Tied on 33 points with Rivoli United, Cavalier are worse off in terms of goal difference and must defeat the already safe Tivoli Gardens FC and also hope two of the other relegation threatened teams suffer defeat.
Rivoli United have battled bravely in the last few weeks and have given themselves a real chance of escaping the drop, which seemed almost impossible two weeks ago. They are currently on 33 points with a +4 better goal difference than 11th place Cavalier which effectively means that a win against Humble Lion sees them retain the premier league status. But that is easier said than done as the Vassell Reynolds coached Humble Lion needs to win to ensure they make the semi-finals of the league. UWI are breathing down the necks of last year’s fourth placed team, who cannot afford to slip up on the final day of the regular season.
Of all the teams now battling relegation, FC Reno must be wondering how it is that they got there. But somehow they have managed to lose enough points (drawing five and losing one of their last six games) to now be hovering just above the relegation zone and in danger of being caught if they don’t beat a confident and motivated UWI team. UWI needs three points to have a chance of sneaking into the semi-finals and will be coming with all guns blazing. Reno must resist the Mona based team’s best efforts and find a way to win to win to make sure they are safe.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login