Two-time tournament winners and defending champion, DirecTV W Connection and first-time finalist Central FC will lock horns for the sixth time this season when they meet in the Lucozade Sport Goal Shield final at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva from 8.10pm tonight.
The Stuart Charles-Fevrier-coached W Connection are in the hunt for five titles, having already won the Digicel Charity Shield (September), Toyota Classic (December) and T&T Football Association FA Trophy (December), while missing out only on the First Citizens Cup, which was won by tonight's opponent, Central FC.
Both teams have met five times this campaign with W Connection, two wins away from a fifth league crown winning twice and losing twice as well with the other drawn, setting the stage for a final charge at bragging rights for the 2014 season between the two Couva-based clubs, which have began a rivalry of their own, with Englishman Terry Fenwick in charge of the Central "Sharks" and being no stranger to battles with his opposite number as a former San Juan Jabloteh coach.
Central, which played most of the match with ten-men defeated W Connection 4-2last October in a penalty shoot-out following a goalless First Citizens Cup semi-final round meeting en route to lifting the title.
But, W Connection fired back with a 1-0 round one win in the league in December, and in the same month edged the "Sharks" 6-5 on penalties in the FA decider after a 2-2 draw.
Both sides met again in February in round two of the league, a 2-2 deadlock, however last month Central trounced W Connection 3-0 in round three league play and will take a slight confidence edge into the match.
Speaking on the eve of the final, Charles-Fevrier who is also two wins away from yet another league crown said he expects Central to be very aggressive.
"We are expecting a very intense encounter, so we have to be prepared for that sort of game and match their agression, " he added.
W Connection which will be hoping to celebrate the signing of a two-year contract extension with main sponsor, DirecTV Trinidad Limited with a win reached the final by cruising past San Juan Jabloteh 3-1 in its quarterfinal before eking out a 1-0 victory against Point Fortin Civic 1-0 in the semifinal courtesy a second-half strike from Hashim Arcia on April 11.
Since then the "Savonnetta Boys" have not been in competitive action, but Charles-Fevrier said his players will definitely be ready for the final.
He noted, "the downside is that we haven't played competitive for two weeks, but we are always prepared and we know that no game is easy especially for us. Everyone wants to beat us and it will be a tough game."
He boasted, ""In the years that I've been in the club we have been in so many Finals and it's the same situation now. We want to win. That's our job."
Central, meanwhile has been the busier of both clubs following their 2-0 semifinal win over North East Stars, first suffering a 2-1 loss against same Stars on April 15 before hammering Police 4-1 on Tuesday in two re-scheduled league matches.