Defence Force, still fresh from Tuesday's impressive 4-1 win over reigning Digicel T&T Pro League champions and second-placed DirecTV W Connection, and Pt Fortin Civic face off at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella from 4 pm, with both teams hoping to take a step towards securing third spot.
Currently, table leaders Central FC–with 49 points and two matches left–hold a six-point lead over W Connection, which has a match in hand in the two-team battle for the $1,000,000 title. Defence Force and Pt Fortin Civic are next both with 33 points, with the "Teteron Boys" ahead on goal-difference.
Speaking ahead of the match, Defence Force coach Marvin Gordon cited that his team had a poor start to its campaign, but was now in top form–as was evident in its 4-1 whipping of W Connection on Tuesday at the Marvin Lee Stadium in Macoya–led by a Devorn Jorsling brace to carry his league best tally to 16.
He said, "We had a couple rough patches but now our attitude is right and we want to make sure and finish third and even try to win a knockout title as we prepare for next season, which is also a present focus of the team."
Gordon, a former assistant to Defence Force's most successful coach of recent years and two-time Pro League winning coach, Ross Russell, whose time in the military came to an end last December, credited a number of reasons for the recent rise of the army/coastguard outfit.
"It's the moral behaviour within the team now which was even present when we trained over the Easter weekend. We now have support with the bosses and everyone from the Defence Force becoming more involved with the team.
"Against W Connection we changed a bit from how we normally played against them. We decided to put them under pressure from early and high up the field and it worked.
"We would have the same approach against Civic. Things are going to change a bit tactically. We are going to prepare for each team as they come, like we did in the past seasons with Ross Russell. We are going counteract what other teams have. Like we did against Central, playing with a 3-5-2 system, which we don't normally use. Against Civic we are going to be coming up with something to get the desired result."
There will also be a personal battle between Jorsling (16 league goals this season) and Civic forward Marcus Joseph (14 league goals this season) on Sunday, occupying first and second positions respectively on the DPL scoring list this season, as both former Golden Boot winners hunt this season's personal scoring accolade.
Also today, Caledonia AIA and Play San Juan Jabloteh clash at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar from 4pm.
The remaining Round Three Match Day Seven fixtures of leaders Central and second-placed W Connection against Japs North East Stars and Police respectively, have been shifted to April 28 due to the league's top two clubs upcoming commitments in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship which serves as the qualifier tournament to the Concacaf Champions League.
Central and Connection, which have also secured berths at the 2016 CFU Club Championship by caging the top two spots in the current DPL championship, will head separate routes in the Group stage of this season's CFU Club Championship, which runs from April 15�24.
The Group stage of the 2015 CFU Club Championship will be contested between April 15-19, while the semi-final and final rounds will be contested between April 22-24 to decide the Caribbean champions and determine the three Caribbean berths at the 2015-2016 CONCACAF Champions League.
W Connection, last season's DPL champions and three-time Caribbean Club champions, host Guyana Defence Force (April 15), Antigua & Barbuda's SAP FC (April 17) and Jamaica's Waterhouse FC (April 19) in Group Two at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva while Central make their CFU Club Championship debut in Group One, hosted in Guyana, against Suriname powerhouse Inter Moengotapoe (April 17) and home team Alpha United (April 19).