Lenworth Hyde Sr ... coach of Tivoli Gardens (left) and Donovan Duckie ... coach of Sporting Central (right). - File

THE opposing coaches may be the best of friends. But the mood between Lenworth Hyde Sr's Tivoli Gardens, and Donovan Duckie's Sporting Central Academy will be quite serious when the number one and two teams in the Digicel Premier League come face to face for a 3:30 p.m. showdown at Brancourt in Clarendon.

Tivoli Gardens have been perfect, winning four of four while ascending to a position of strength at the top of the standings with 12 points, as they work to secure back-to-back titles.

Sporting Central have been somewhat impressive too while paving an unbeaten path, scoring consecutive victories after a safe start with drawn matches at Harbour View and at home against Village, to accumulate eight points.

Both Hyde and Duckie worked in tandem with the national Under-20 men's team that went close to securing World Cup qualification and they have remained great friends since.

That, though, does not change the desire for victory as business comes first.

"We've to be professional about our jobs," said Hyde. "We're working for two different companies. We want our company to do well.

"On the pitch, it's the players who will make the difference, it's for them to go out there and perform. We've done our job already in preparing them for the game," he added. "After the 90 minutes, then we will talk."

yellow-card accumulation

Owen Gordon will step into the Tivol line-up at the expense of central defender Victor Thompson, who will miss the match on yellow-card accumulation.

Besides getting good results, the teams have been playing attractively and Hyde believes they will serve up a good offering for fans.

"This is going to be a nice game for spectators because both teams play quality football," he pointed out. "They have quality players, a good coach, so we expect a good game from them."

Midfielder Jevaughn Sterling, who toured Central America and played with the Reggae Boyz in the semi-final stages of the last World Cup qualifying campaign, is quite influential in Sporting's play. He scored a penalty last weekend, when François Swaby and Jermaine Christian also hit the net, in a comprehensive 3-0 win over parishioners Humble Lions.

Commenting on that win for the third-season Premier League outfit, Duckie said it set the stage nicely for this week's contest against his "good friend".

Duckie's goalie Jacomena Barrett has kept a clean sheet for their past three encounters, but the goalie and his entire defence are expected to face their toughest challenge yet against the rampaging Tivoli Gardens attack.

Navion Boyd, who rocketed a beautiful free-kick winner for a 2-1 margin at arch-rivals Arnett Gardens' ground last Sunday, number among the chief destroyers in a Tivoli team full of optimism.

"We prepared excellent this week for this matchup. We're pretty confident that we can go down there and get a good result, but we've to put our best foot forward," observed Hyde. "We've to go in there with a disciplined approach against a team that has been playing good football since Duckie took over."

The dangerous Tivoli offensive combination also includes Roland Dean and Keammar Daley, who have also hit early-season scoring form, as well as midfielder Kevin Blackford, who has been making a name for himself.

Interestingly, he is the brother of well-known Jermaine Hue, the Harbour View maestro who has suited up in national colours on many occasions.

The Stars of the East, who ended third last season, could well do with some of Hue's inspiration, as they had drawn four games on the trot before getting a win in the boardroom this week at the expense of Waterhouse that shot them up to six points.

Prior to that, they held princely company further down the table with Boys' Town, the team which finished a position behind them last season. The Red Brigade have drawn all their matches to be on four points and as Harbour View will be keen for a win against struggling August Town, so too will Boys' Town be hungry to take all the points off Humble Lions.

Both are travelling and Harbour View's task appear less difficult based on the poor results garnered by August Town who have lost thrice.

Even more desperate though, are Waterhouse and Arnett Gardens, whose pointless situation also adds pressure on coaches Geoffrey Maxwell and Fabian Davis.

Davis' Arnett lost all four matches and face a difficult fixture at Bradley Stewart's Rivoli, which have made a steady start to be fifth with six points, while remaining unbeaten.

cannot get any worse

For Maxwell's Waterhouse, things cannot get any worse. Already finding it difficult to score goals, they were decked six in the boardroom, as well as the only point they had earned - in a 1-1 finish with Harbour View last Sunday due to the incomplete registration of central defender Desmond Breakenridge, returning to the Drewsland club from Arnett Gardens.

Today's games

Sporting Central Academy vs Tivoli Gardens at Brancourt at 3:30 p.m.

St. Georges vs Waterhouse at Lynch Park at 3:30 p.m.

Humble Lions vs Boys' Town at Effortville Community Centre at 3:30 p.m.

August Town vs Harbour View at UWI Bowl at 3:30 p.m.

Rivoli United vs Arnett Gardens at Spanish Town Prison Oval at 4 p.m.

Portmore United vs Village United at Ferdie Neita Park at 7:30 p.m.

Standings

Digicel Premier League standings after four rounds of matches

P W D L GF GA GD Pts.
Tivoli 4 4 0 0 11 3 8 12
Sporting 4 2 2 0 6 1 5 8
St Georges 4 2 2 0 4 1 3 8
Portmore 4 2 2 0 5 3 2 8
H View 4 1 3 0 7 4 3 6
Rivoli 4 1 3 0 3 2 1 6
Village 4 1 3 0 3 2 1 6
Boys' Town 4 0 4 0 2 2 0 4
H Lions 4 0 2 2 4 8 -4 2
August Twn 4 0 1 3 0 7 -7 1
Arnett 4 0 0 4 2 7 -6 0
W'house 4 0 0 4 2 12 -10 0