Nigel Si­mon

Two-time de­fend­ing Dig­i­cel Pro League cham­pi­on and ta­ble leader, Cli­co San Juan Jabloteh will come up against ri­val bmo­bile Joe Pub­lic in one of two resched­uled match­es to­day, from 5 pm. The top of the ta­ble clash be­tween Jabloteh and Joe Pub­lic takes place at the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va, with the "San Juan Kings" seek­ing a win to se­cure the reg­u­lar sea­son ti­tle.

Jabloteh cur­rent­ly leads the stand­ings with 38 points from 19 match­es, one ahead of Joe Pub­lic and Cale­do­nia AIA of Mor­vant/Laven­tille; while W Con­nec­tion and Ma Pau, which al­so meet to­day, are next with 33 points each. A win for Jabloteh will see first year coach, St Lu­cian Earl Jean and his play­ers end with an unas­sail­able 41 points to cap­ture the reg­u­lar sea­son ti­tle go­ing in­to the "Big Six" com­pe­ti­tion.

How­ev­er, a Joe Pub­lic win would put the "East­ern Li­ons" in pole po­si­tion to snatch the reg­u­lar sea­son ho­n­ours. But while Jabloteh will have to do with­out na­tion­al de­fend­er Den­nis Lawrence, due to So­ca War­riors team du­ty, Joe Pub­lic will be with­out the ser­vices of four reg­u­lar starters in Keyeno Thomas, Trent Noel, Hay­den Tin­to and league lead­ing scor­er, Ker­ry Bap­tiste (29 goals), al­so due to na­tion­al team du­ty. The quar­tet are in the So­ca War­riors squad to face USA in a Con­ca­caf World Cup qual­i­fi­er at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo, to­mor­row night, from 7.11 pm.

In the day's oth­er match, W Con­nec­tion and Ma Pau will face off at the Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la, from 5 pm. Both W Con­nec­tion and Ma Pau will al­so be ham­pered by ab­sen­tees due to in­juries and na­tion­al team call-ups. The "Savonet­ta Boys" will be with­out in­jured strik­er, An­dre Tou­s­saint as well as mid­field­ers Clyde Leon and Hughton Hec­tor, and the goal­keep­ing duo of Jan-Michael Williams and Mar­vin Phillip who are all with the So­ca War­riors squad.

Ma Pau will al­so have to do with­out T&T Un­der-20 trio Kevin Moli­no, Mekeil Williams and Cur­tis Gon­za­les, as they are cur­rent­ly in Turkey with the na­tion­al young­sters prepar­ing for the Fi­fa Un­der-20 World Cup, which kicks off in Egypt on Sep­tem­ber 24 ,and T&T se­nior play­er Lyn­don An­drews.