Defending champions, Defence Force and fellow title contenders Central FC will both be seeking maximum points when they come up against St Ann's Rangers and Police in two re-scheduled Digicel T&T Pro League matches at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, today.
In the opener, Defence Force, winners of their last seven league matches, tackles St Ann's Rangers from 5 pm while Central FC meets Police two hours later.
DirecTV W Connection sits atop the nine-team table with 45 points from 21 matches, six more than Pt Fortin Civic FC which only has one match left and cannot claim the title.
However, Defence Force winners of the title during the 2010/2011 season as well and Central FC are next with 38 points each, but while the "Teteron Boys" have five matches left to play, Central FC, beaten 2-1 by North East Stars in its last outing only has three matches left and cannot afford anymore slip ups.
While Defence Force will be confident of extending their winning streak to eight matches it will have to do so without forward Devorn Jorsling, out with a hamstring injury.
In their two previous meetings in the league this season, Rangers won 3-2 while Defence Force registered a 5-1 thrashing last month in another re-scheduled contest, but Rangers is also coming off a morale boosting 3-2 victory over Caledonia last week, and will no doubt want to spoil its opponent title challenge.
Central FC suffered a blow in its bid for the title in the loss to North East Stars, and starting this afternoon against the Lawmen must now win all its matches while depending on other results to go its way.
But in two league meetings to date, Central FC which had its 15-match unbeaten run halted in the loss to Stars, have failed to beat Police with the first round clash ending 4-1 in the Lawmen favour followed by a 0-0 draw.
Following today's matches, W Connection which also faces Central FC in the Lucozade Sport Goal Shield final on April 25 with the hope of adding to its three titles won already this season, Digicel Charity Shield, T&T Football Association FA Trophy and Toyota Classic will face Defence Force on May 4 and May 6 before completing its schedule versus Caledonia AIA on May 13.
In addition to playing four-time champions W Connection on May 4 and May 6, Defence Force also meets Caledonia and San Juan Jabloteh while Central tackles San Juan Jabloteh (May 6) and St Ann's Rangers (May 13); Pt Fortin plays Caledonia, and Stars come up against Rangers and Police.
In addition to the $1 million league prize, the top two clubs will also qualify to the Caribbean Football Union Club Championship, a qualifier to the Concacaf Champions League.
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Teams P W D L F A Pts
W Connection 21 13 6 2 43 15 45
Pt Fortin Civic 23 12 3 8 35 24 39
Defence Force 19 12 2 5 38 24 38
Central FC 21 10 8 3 42 20 38
N/East Stars 22 10 6 6 24 17 36
Caledonia 21 7 6 8 32 31 27
Police 22 8 3 11 29 37 27
Jabloteh 22 3 3 16 22 53 12
Rangers 21 2 1 18 18 62 7
Leading scorers
15 - Marcus Joseph
(Pt Fortin Civic)
14 - Trevin Caesar
(North East Stars)
12 - Joevin Jones
(W Connection)
10 - Willis Plaza
(Central FC)
9 - Devorn Jorsling
(Defence Force)
Today's matches:
Venue:
Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva
Defence Force vs St Ann's Rangers, 5pm
Central FC vs Police, 7pm.