Nigel Si­mon

Front-run­ner W Con­nec­tion and T&TEC, sec­ond on the ta­ble face off tonight in a top-of-the-ta­ble en­counter which can well de­ter­mine the out­come of this year's Dig­i­cel T&T Pro League ti­tle race. The clash be­tween three-time for­mer league cham­pi­on W Con­nec­tion, with 36 points from 19 match­es and league debu­tants T&TEC, a point be­hind with a match in hand takes place at the Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la from 8pm. Al­so in ac­tion in the sec­ond match of a dou­ble-head­er will be third placed Neal & Massy Cale­do­nia AIA (32 points) which needs a vic­to­ry over fourth placed Adam's Con­struc­tion Lim­it­ed San Juan Jabloteh at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo. Tonight though, most at­ten­tion if not all will be on the Mara­bal­la en­counter where the the Dex­ter Cyrus-coached "Elec­tric­i­ty Boys" will con­sid­er them­selves favourites for a win as they seek to com­plete a re­mark­able move up from Su­per League cham­pi­ons a year ago to Pro League win­ners.

In four meet­ings so far this sea­son, both clubs have won twice but tonight's re­sult is what will mat­ter most. T&TEC is ex­pect­ed to be close to full strength with the re­turn of strik­er Mar­cus Joseph from du­ties with the na­tion­al Un­der-23 team af­ter fail­ing to make the fi­nal 20-man squad for the Con­ca­caf Olympic qual­i­fiers which con­tin­ues to­day while club­mate Jayson Joseph made the team. Mean­while, W Con­nec­tion, coached by Stu­art Charles-Fevri­er and com­ing off a 1-0 win over Po­lice on Tues­day to re­gain top spot, has it much hard­er as it copes with with the ab­sence of na­tion­al Un­der-23 quar­tet (Shah­don Win­ches­ter, Jo­evin Jones, Jo­mal Williams and Leslie Joel Rus­sell) while it will al­so be its fourth match in eight days. A win to­day for W Con­nec­tion will give them a great chance of lift­ing the ti­tle as it will then en­ter its fi­nal match against Po­lice need­ing an­oth­er vic­to­ry to ends its league ti­tle drought.

How­ev­er, a T&TEC tri­umph tonight, will put the "Elec­tric­i­ty Boys" back in charge with a two point cush­ion and two match­es left to play against Po­lice on Tues­day and then a tough fi­nal en­counter with Cale­do­nia, which al­so has its own ti­tle as­pi­ra­tions.

Two hours ear­li­er at Mara­bel­la, Po­lice and Di­recTV North East Stars, sixth and sev­enth on the ta­ble and sep­a­rat­ed by a point meet. At Mu­cu­rapo, Cale­do­nia will al­so be with­out some key play­ers in Mic­ah Lewis, Ja­mal Gay and Trevin Cae­sar due to na­tion­al Un­der-23 du­ties as it looks to stay in con­tention with a vic­to­ry over Jabloteh. How­ev­er, the "Mor­vant/Laven­tille Stal­lions will be glad for the re­turn of Un­der-23 de­fen­sive duo Nu­ru Ab­dul­lah Muham­mad and Aquil Sel­by to as­sist in their ti­tle push while hop­ing the top-of-the-ta­ble clash at Mara­bel­la ends in a stale­mate. Jabloteh (27 points) which can fin­ish no high­er than third is with­out na­tion­al Un­der-23 cap­tain Shel­don Bateau, but is com­ing off a morale boost­ing 2-1 win over last year's league cham­pi­on De­fence Force. The "Teteron Boys", a point be­hind Jabloteh in fifth comes up against St Ann's Rangers in the open­er at Mu­cu­rapo.

To­day's Dig­i­cel

Pro League match­es

Venue: Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo:

Rangers vs De­fence Force, 6pm

Jabloteh vs Cale­do­nia, 8pm

Venue: Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la:

Po­lice vs North East Stars, 6pm

T&TEC vs W Con­nec­tion, 8pm

Re­main­ing fix­tures:

Tues­day March 27:

Po­lice vs T&TEC @Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va, 6pm

Fri­day March 30:

NE Stars vs Rangers, 6pm

W Con­nec­tion vs Po­lice, 6pm

De­fence Force vs Jabloteh, 8pm

Cale­do­nia vs T&TEC, 8pm

CUR­RENT STAND­INGS

Teams P W D L F A Pts

W Con­nec­tion 19 12 0 7 23 18 36

T&TEC 18 10 5 3 27 14 35

Cale­do­nia 19 10 2 7 29 25 32

Jabloteh 19 7 6 6 28 25 27

De­fence Force 19 7 5 7 27 27 26

Po­lice 18 4 6 8 26 32 18

NE Stars 19 4 5 10 18 25 17

Rangers 19 4 5 10 23 35 17