A top-of-the-table clash will highlight match day eight in the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Stag Beer Elite League when fierce rivals Pele FC and Alpha United face off today at the Leonora ground from 18:00hrs.
It will be second meeting of the two sides in the league after their first matchup produced a thrilling 2-2 contest. Presently they are separated by only one point as Pele sits on 14 points while Alpha are on 13 points.
Suffering their first defeat of the event during their previous matchup, Pele will look to get back to winnings ways and will hope that the veteran core of Gregory Richardson, Travis Grant and recently returned Konata Manning can propel them to victory over the old enemy.
Pele Head-coach Justin Bentick during an invited comment said:”I know Alpha will be coming fully defensive but we are looking once we score they must not score as well as once we are not scoring they must also not score. We will press on them to score because we have more offensive minded players”.
He further said “If they come offensive minded, they will get a thrashing, we have changed up the team and we have a few surprises for them”.
Similarly, the ‘Hammers’ will hope their can improve on their previous drawn outing and will look to their equally formidable core of Delon Lanferman, Daniel Wilson, Kithson Bain and Dwayne Lawrence to fire them to the top of the standings.
Alpha United coach Wayne Dover said “Again our expectation is to get a positive result, a result that will keep us in the lead or the touching distance of the leader. We have seen Pele in good form, Gregory Richardson is enjoying a good moment at this time which is a plus for them and generally we have seen the level of confidence in them rise”
According to Dover “It will be a tricky game given their current form, we on the other hand, need to have more consistency in this particular game and the rest of the tournament to finish in the top four”.
He further added “We will be working on our defensive organization and work on converting the many chances missed thus far. In a nut shell we will be focusing on general team organization and scoring”.
In the feature contest, fourth positioned West Demerara outfit Slingerz FC will lock horns with cellar occupant Slingerz FC from 20:00hrs.
Deducted three points after being sanctioned by the GFF for their refusal to play against GDF, the Vergenoegen side will now aim to make up lost ground on the leaders and will look to their star-studded roster featuring the likes of Vurlon Mills, Domini Garnette, Colin Nelson and Julian Wade to fire them to victory against a side they failed to beat in the earlier round.
On the other hand, GFC will be desperate for a positive result in their fight to escape the bottom of the standings and will hope that they can repeat the result of the first round encounter through another dogged showing led by the likes of Linden Picketts, Curtis Kellman, Michael Henry and Mikhail Stewart.
Winner of the round will pocket $4,000,000 while the second, third and fourth place teams will collect $2,000,000, $1,000,000 and $500,000 respectively. Similarly, the point’s leader prior to the knockout stage in the League Genesis round will pocket an additional $1,000,000.
