Bender

August Town FC head coach Christopher Bender is satisfied with his team's position in the race for one of two spots in next season's Red Stripe Premier League, at the halfway stage in the Jamaica Football Federation All-Island Confederation play-off.

August Town lead the four-team group on seven points after two wins and a draw in their first three games. In their last game, August Town, courtesy of a 75th-minute goal by veteran striker Oneil 'Chippy' McDonald, beat Volvo 1-0 at Drax Hall playing field in St Ann on Sunday.

August Town, winners of the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association, are now in pole position, with the return games set to start tomorrow.

"We are certainly on our way back to the Premier League as we have done very well in the first three games," Bender told The Star.

"We are getting the results and that is very important. We had three consecutive away games. So far, we have played two and got positive results. We are ahead of our projection for the away games," he pointed out.

While August Town are on top, Rivoli United come next on five points from their three games. However, Rivoli's coach Calvert Fitzgerald is not totally satisfied with where they are at this time.

dropped points

"We started with an away game, then we had three consecutive home games. We are about two points off where we wanted to be at this point. The goal was to win all three home games and accumulate maximum nine points. But we dropped points against August Town in a 0-0 draw last week Wednesday," he explained.

"We are not totally satisfied with the overall performance of the team. However, we were behind in our preparation as the South Central Confed Super League finished some two months ago. We didn't get in any practice game. We were a bit rusty but we're getting better with each game," he added.

Volvo, winners of the Eastern Confed, are in third position on four points, followed by two-time national Premier League champions Wadadah FC, who are pointless after losing all three matches.

The series continues with the return games tomorrow. Wadadah face August Town at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay, St James, and Rivoli will tackle Volvo at Spanish Town Prison Oval. Both games are scheduled to kick off at 3:30 p.m.