THE Barbados Defence Force (BDF) have an excellent chance tonight of widening their lead at the top of the Digicel Premier League.
They play DirecTV Paradise in the final match of a triple-header at the Wildey Football AstroTurf at 8 p.m.
Champions Weymouth Wales will play Cosmos at 6 p.m. and Families First St John Sonnets and Claytons Kola Tonic Notre Dame open the action at 4 p.m.
With 29 points from 12 matches, BDF have a four-point lead on second-placed Mackeson Brittons Hill, who have played one game more.
The army’s football recruits will be entering the match full of confidence having thrashed Paradise 5-0 in the first round.
Paradise have been inconsistent despite appearing to have a strong defence on paper, with past and present Barbados players Barry Skeete, Jonathan Straker, Andre Bourne and Stuart Hall.
They will again be tested by their former teammate Jamal Chandler, who forms a three-pronged striking attack with inspirational BDF captain Mario Harte and Kyle Gibson.
Paradise’s midfield is still heavily dependent on coach/player Kent Hall although Trevor “Taz” Mayers and teenager Jomo Harris have been steady. Both Mayers and Hall need to be more clinical when goal-scoring chances come their way.
National Under-17 captain Sebastian Hunte has been fast-tracked into the Premiership by the team’s technical director, Kenville “Kab” Layne. But he is on a learning curve, a status he shares with winger Rakim Lashley.
The Paradise midfielders will definitely have an engrossing battle in midfield with BDF’s quartet of Romario Harewood, Raheim Sargeant, Dwayne O’Garro and Rashad Jules.
But Paradise’s biggest problem has been scoring goals with the tally of 12 goals being second lowest in the Premiership. Only cellar dwellers Sonnets, with six goals, have scored fewer.
The Dover-based side’s cause has not been helped by injuries to their two leading strikers, Armando Lashley and Kadeem Latham, in the middle of the first round as well as to back-up forward Shane Callender.
The experienced Kenny Sealy filled in capably towards the end of the first round with a couple of goals but has lost pace.
If he starts alongside Armando Lashley, Sealy will want to show that he is capable of scoring against the younger and more energetic BDF, who have conceded a mere seven goals for the league’s meanest defence.
Even at 42, former Barbados custodian Albert Brathwaite, who has been pressed into service because of injuries to Terry Smith and Dario Weir, seems to have lost nothing between the uprights.
The imposing Brathwaite has been solid, rolling back the years with the manner in which he has taken command of his area and hasn’t looked like he could be beaten.
With soldier Paul Alexander suffering an injury in last Sunday’s KFC Champions Cup 2-1 win over Wales, Zico Phillips is expected to start alongside Jason Lovell, Teriq Highland and Ricardio Morris with either Akeem Browne or Kemar Chase on the left side of the BDF’s defence.
In the other two matches, the Dames should easily defeat Sonnets and leapfrog Brittons Hill, while fifth-placed Wales should not take Cosmos, in seventh, lightly.
Both Wales and Cosmos were eliminated from the Knockout Cup last Sunday in matches which went into extra time, and players on both sides could still be feeling the effects from two hours of football.
