Old Road Eyeing Championship

Old Road eyeing championship

By Ian “Magic” Hughes

LIME Old Road will play defending champions Asot’s Arcade Parham in the feature

match in the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association Premier Division this weekend, a

match the Old Road coach, Vincent “Nabu” Samuel, said will be key in determining his

team’s season.

“We have our eyes on the championship and, in order to be champions, we must

beat the champions,” Samuel said.

Old Road is coming off its best performance of the season, a thrilling 5-1 victory over

Fort Road.

Before the loss to Old Road, Fort Road had given up just four goals in three matches.

Kimoy “Kim” Alexander’s hat-trick along with two more goals by the Old Road

offence showed absolutely no respect for Fort Road’s stingy defence.

Samuel believes that his team is in a position to duplicate what it did to Fort Road

against the defending champions.

“The team is playing well and we all know what this game is going to mean to us, so

we are ready,” the coach said.

Parham, meanwhile, has been inconsistent thus far.

The defending champions got off to two consecutive losses before a three-win run,

scoring 12 goals along the way.

In its previous two matches, however, Parham picked up just one point with a loss

to Hoppers followed with a draw against Bullets last week.

With a number of key players out, including national team striker Tevaughn “Peter

Redz” Harriette, Parham is struggling.

With hopes of reclaiming its title, Parham must win against Old Road on Sunday, a

game that should draw loads of attention from all the other clubs in the competition.

In other fixtures, Sap should find some form against the struggling Rangers when

the two clash before the feature match of the triple-header on Sunday.

Sap is coming off a lacklustre win over bottom-of-the table club Five Islands while

Rangers went under 0-2 to Empire.

While Sap may be looking for an easy victory, Rangers, though struggling, is a very

difficult team to assess, and Sap must guard against complacency.

In the opener on Sunday, league leaders Hoppers will come up against a determined

Bullets team.

Last week, Parham appeared on the way to a victory before Bullets battled back to

draw 2-2.

The Hoppers team is having a good run and is the lone unbeaten team in the

competition.

The hope of the club for the first-ever Premier Division title is high in the minds of

players, coaches and fans.

Grenades, meanwhile, may be grateful for this weekend’s opponent, last-placed Five

Islands, in the feature match of the double-header on Saturday.

Grenades will be hoping to rebound from a 0-2 to Hoppers last week.

But Five Islands, which held Hoppers on the ropes before the leaders came from two

goals down to draw 2-2, is fighting against relegation and might dig deep for a necessary

win.

In the other match, Empire must relish its chances of moving to the top of the

standings, even just for a day or less, with a win over Fort Road in the opener on Saturday.

Fort Road may be demoralized following defeat to Old Road while the mood in the

Empire camp must be that of optimism.

In spite of Fort Road’s defeat, however, Empire cannot look past this team coached

by Schyan Jeffers.