Defending champions, The City of Bridgetown, are ready for an encore.
But first-time finalists, Christ Church West Central won’t be coming to town to dance to their tune in the second final of the David Thompson Memorial Constituency Councils’ Football Classic tonight at Kensington Oval.
Christ Church West Central are out to bring glory to the southern constituency, especially after Maxwell had to settle for second place in the Barbados Cricket Association’s Division 2 cricket final and the Briar Hall-based Fire House lost to Akademiks in the LIME Pelican Clallenge final.
The two unbeaten constituencies will clash from 8 p.m. for the first prize of $30 000. The match will be preceded by the third place play-off between St Michael North and St Michael South Central at 5 p.m. and a women’s exhibition match at 7 p.m.
“The City team is at a higher level now. We have trained hard and fought hard to get back into the final. Our players do everything together.
“They sit down after each match and talk over things they did. The guys have gelled together into one family now, so we will be hard to beat and playing in the Oval is like playing at Westbury. This is our home turf and we have to protect it,” a confident manager Ramon Carrington told SUNSPORT yesterday.
Carrington said they were not worried about the challenge from Christ Church West Central, whose team will include the LIME?Pelican successful Akademiks’ captain Randy Burrowes.
“We have been there last year and we have proven ourselves. We are the champions, so they are the ones who will have to be afraid of us,” added Carrington.
Christ Church West Central’s coach Julian Mottley, who lifted the inaugural LIME Pelican title last year in a playing role for Bajan Pride, was also upbeat about his team’s chances.
“The guys are eager and ready. While our guys may be inexperienced to Kensington Oval, they have experience as junior nationals and some of them have also played with national senior team and are quite familiar with the conditions.
“We have come a long way from last year by putting in a lot of hard work. We have a very good team and we are not going to lie down and give in to the defending champions,” he noted.
The City, who beat St Thomas in an exciting final last year, will again be depending heavily on their big trio of captain Jeffrey Williams, Carl Joseph and Dwayne Mars.
They will be without national defender Jomo Brathwaite, who has not recovered from a hamstring injury, which also kept him out of the semi-finals.
With Brathwaite sidelined, Christopher Shepherd and Randy Brewster will be playing together in the centre of the defence. The strapping Ryan James is expected to be employed in a defensive-midfield role with Mitchum President and Christopher Shepherd as wing backs.
The dreadlocked Richardson Rouse, now 35 years old but a standout striker with Beverley Hills in his heyday, and who also played with the semi-professional Barbados-based outfit Lambada as a teenager, will orchestrate plays in the middle for The City with Williams, who is also Barbados’ captain.
“Jeffrey and Richie are the two motivators in the team. The guys look up to them. Richie may not be as fast as before but he knows how, when and where to slow down and control the game,” noted Carrington.
The Notre Dame and L.G. Strike Force pair of Joseph and Mars have been combining superbly, along with Rohan Hewitt, while Renaldo Seale and Sherwin Daisley are other striking options.
Following the Group matches, Christ Church West Central have been boosted by the inclusion of Burrowes, national midfielder Renaldo Marques and former one-time Barbados defender Andre Daniel.
Daniel will join Ramon Nurse in the centre of the defence and along with Germaine Forde and Troy Taylor, should have a busy time, protecting goalkeeper Oliver Hinkson from Mars, Williams and Joseph.
Burrowes and Marques will join captain Mario Farrell, a standout junior national player, who also represented both Gall Hill and Wales, in the midfield.
Striker Dario Lewis and Shane Cox, another national junior player, who also played for both Maxwell and Wales in the Premiership, have been in excellent form, combining for a dozen goals to date.
“Dario stepped away from football after getting injured but he is back and has really been putting in the work and you can see the results, while Shane has been combining well with the midfielders and other strikers,” noted Mottley.
Lewis and Cox will be supported by Kyle Atherley, who also represented T.S. Strikers in the LIME Pelican.
Mottley, 38, who has captained Wales to both the Premier League and Knockout Cup titles over the past two years and was named best defender when Bajan Pride lifted the LIME Pelican crown last year, said he has decided to step aside to give some youngsters from the constituency an opportunity to showcase their skills.
