Ryon Jones, Staff Reporter

Portmore United hold an imposing eight-point lead with four rounds of games remaining in the 2011/2012 Red Stripe Premier League season. They have, however, stumbled in recent weeks, which has allowed second-place Boys' Town to eat into what was once a double-digit lead.

The leaders will seek to move a step closer to the title on Sunday when they host dethroned cham-pions, Tivoli Gardens, at Ferdie Neita Park, in a 7:00 p.m. encounter.

Portmore lead the 12-team standings with 65 points; eight more than second-place Boys' Town (57) and 11 ahead of third-place Humble Lion (54), the only two teams with any mathematical chance of overhauling them.

"The onus is on Boys' Town to catch us; we just need to take care of ourselves, just keep playing and getting points on the broad," Portmore's coach, Calvin Lewis, said.

"The games are finishing fast, after this there are three games with nine points to play for and we have an eight-point lead and both of us have the same amount of games to be played.

Portmore played to draws in their last two outings, as their encounter with relegated Village United ended 1-1, before a 2-2 draw with Harbour View in their most recent outing. Lewis is, however, looking for his team to get back to winning ways, now back on home turf.

"We are playing at home and it is a different approach when we are playing at home, we need to get three points," Lewis said.

"The onus is on the trailing team, not on us, so there is no pressure on us right now," he added.

Tivoli are a disappointing fifth with 51 points and assistant coach Alvin Shaw is keen on a secondplace finish.

They got the better of Portmore in only one of their previous three league meetings this season. This victory came in the opening round by a 1-0 scoreline, but that was followed by 2-0 and 2-1 defeats.

The Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey-coached Tivoli also tasted defeat in their last outing, as they were clipped 1-0 by Humble Lion. Shaw, however, assured that it is not a case of them losing interest in the competition due to their failure to accomplish their goal of back-to-back title wins.

"As coaches our philosophy is to win at all times; try and leave the game with maximum points and that is what we are going to Portmore to do on Sunday," Shaw said.

"Our approach to Sunday's game is to come away with three points and for the remainder of the season that is our focus as well, to accumulate maximum points and see where it takes us at the end of the season," he added.

Shaw was happy to report that he will have a full-strength team available, as they look to move up the table.

"We should be putting out our strongest team come Sunday," Shaw said.

"Our other focus is second place where there is an incentive, so that is another reason why we are going to go to Portmore and give our all," he added.

At the other end of the table, Reno looks set to join Village United as the two teams to be relegated. Reno have amassed a mere 26 points, which is nine adrift of 10th-place Highgate United (35). Reno will host seventh-place Montego Bay United (47) at the Frome Sports Complex, while Highgate will host Sporting Central Academy (41) at Lynch Park.

Sunday

Harbour View vs Boys' Town at 6:30 p.m., Harbour View Stadium

Waterhouse vs Humble Lion at 6 p.m., Drewsland Stadium

Portmore United vs Tivoli Gardens at 7 p.m., Ferdie Neita Park

Highgate United vs Sporting Central Academy at 3:30 p.m., Lynch Park

Reno vs Montego Bay United

at 3:30 p.m., Frome Sports Complex

Monday

Arnett Gardens vs Village United at 9 p.m., Anthony Spaulding Complex

Matches on