Having secured a spot in this year's Lucozade Sports Goal Shield semifinals with a comfortable 3-1 win over San Juan Jabloteh in their quarterfinal on Saturday at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, four-time Digicel T&T Pro League champions, DirecTV W Connection will turn its attention back to its quest for another league title.
With four matches left to play, W Connection, former champions in 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2011/2012 lead with 42 points, seven clear of high flying Central FC which has a match in hand followed by North East Stars and Pt Fortin Civic with 33 points each, defending champions, Defence Force with 32 but from only 17 matches and Police with 27 from 19.
Today at Couva from 6pm, W Connection, unbeaten in its last three league matches–inclusive of two straight drawn outcomes, since a 3-0 humbling by Central FC–will look to get back to winning ways when it faces Police, coming back-to-back defeats in the league and Goal Shield quarterfinals, both by 2-1 margins.
But while both clubs are separated by 15 points and four places on the league table, Police has proven to be stubborn opposition for W Connection, as was evident in their two previous encounters, which ended in narrow 1-0 and 2-1 wins for the "Savonneta Boys" winners of the the Digicel Charity Shield, Toyota Classic and T&T Football Assocaition FA Trophy so far this campaign.
Speaking on the eve of his team's match, W Connection coach, St Lucian Stuart Charles-Fevrier said his team has more or less led the standings from day one and don't intend to give it up,"
He added: "We are very confident that we can achieve our goal in winning the league title. We have won three trophies already this season and want to win more, but the league title remains the most important."
"Our intention is to get maximum points in the four (remaining league) games and we will do everything we can to get those points."
"It has been a long season," admitted Charles-Fevrier, who guided W Connection to the 2005 and 2011/12 Pro League titles.
"But from the beginning of the season we had set to compete for everything... have a lot of playing time for different players, and win as much as we can."
The second match at Couva will bring together the league's inform team in Central FC, riding a wave of 14 matches unbeaten against Caledonia, which is hammered 4-0 on Friday in their Goal Shield quarterfinal meeting.
Prior to the lopsided contest, both clubs drew their first two matches in the league, 0-0 and 1-1 and with points very precious as the league draws to an end, Terry Fenwick and his "Central Sharks", will be eager for another easy three points against alst year's league runners-up who are jeopardy of missing a top three finish for the first time in over five years.
Up at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, the second match of the double-header, North East Stars and Pt Fortin Civic will hold all the attention from 8pm.
Depending on the outcome of the W Connection and Police clash at Couva, both Stars and Civic, level with 33 points each will know before their take the field if their chances at the $1,000,000 will remain in tact.
However, should W Connection win its match, Stars and Civic will be left to battle it out for maximum points to maintain their push for a top two finish and qualification to next year's Caribbean Football Union Club Championship, a qualifier to the Concacaf Champions League.
Both clubs will enter on a hight, Stars, coming off a 2-1 Goal Shield quarterfinal victory over Police and Pt Fortin, 4-3 on penalty-kicks after a 1-1 draw in regulation time with Defence Force.
In their remaining matches after today, W Connection faces Defence Force twice and Caledonia AIA; Central FC plays North East Stars, San Juan Jabloteh, St Ann's Rangers; North East Stars tackles Pt Fortin Civic FC, Central FC, St Ann's Rangers and Police; Pt Fortin Civic comes up against North East Stars, San Juan Jabloteh and Caledonia. Defence Force meets both W Connection and Police twice each, San Juan Jabloteh, Caledonia AIA and St Ann's Rangers.
today's matches
Today' Digicel T&T Pro League matches:
Venue: Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva
W Connection vs Police, 6 pm
Central FC vs Caledonia AIA, 8 pm
Venue: Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya
San Juan Jabloteh vs St Ann's Rangers, 6 pm
North East Stars vs Pt Fortin Civic, 8 pm
Current Digicel T&T Pro League standings
Teams P W D L F A Pts
W Connection 20 12 6 2 38 14 42
Central FC 19 9 8 2 36 17 35
N/East Stars 20 9 6 5 22 15 33
Pt Fortin Civic 21 10 3 8 30 23 33
Defence Force 17 10 2 5 34 23 32
Police 19 8 3 8 27 28 27
Caledonia 18 6 6 6 26 22 24
Jabloteh 19 3 2 14 19 45 11
Rangers 19 1 0 18 13 58 3