St Georges' Ricardo Taylor leans in to head the ball away from a Boys' Town opponent earlier this season.

Free-scoring Tivoli Gardens will lock horns with the defensively frugal St Georges as the Digicel Premier League's (DPL) top two teams to date face off in the first end-of-round at the National Stadium at 7:00 this evening.

Finishing in the lower half of the table last season, the St Georges team under new coach Braxton Hyre have put together a remarkable season so far. In fact, having racked up an impressive seven wins and letting in a measly three goals so far, very few can argue that the Portland unit have earned their spot.

However, despite that heading into tonight's final, which will be a first for the Portland team, they will start underdogs in the books of most pundits, facing a high-flying Tivoli offence which has slammed in 22 goals.

St Georges have only lost once, interestingly at the hands of Tivoli Gardens, but despite the psychological deficit coach Braxton Hyre is confident of his team's chances and is hell-bent on taking the silverware back to Portland. And while the coach admits that the round-final trophy will be an important one, he is already beginning to look towards the end of the season.

"The end-of-round final is there but we are not thinking about that, I'm thinking about winning the championship, that's what we are looking at ultimately. This is a good set of players. They are gelling together and you can see the concentration is getting there. I didn't even have to talk to them that much. They are playing well and I think they understand their roles better, and I appreciate that," said Hyre.

well-balanced unit

The former Constant Spring player and coach has created a well-balanced unit buoyed by their frugal defensive line, anchored by the Taylor brothers Jermaine and Ricardo, that has only conceded three goals all season, the least in the league, while putting 12 past opposing goalkeepers. Only two teams have scored more, Tivoli and Harbour View, with 17 to their credit.

Despite wearing the tag of favourites heading into the final, Tivoli coach Lenworth Hyde will be wary of his eastern opposition.

Said Hyde, "St Georges is a very good team, Braxton Hyre has done a very good job with them and they are very organised with a great defence, and so we know it won't be an easy game for us."

"Defensively, we have to be more organised because we are letting in goals, even though I am satisfied with the attack we have to shore up the defence. You can win games with attack but you need a good defence to win championships," he continued.

Hyde was, however, clear on who he thinks will win the match-up and believes his team is well prepared to deal with any challenges that St Georges may present to them.

influential winger death

Tivoli's Navion Boyd

Of course, Tivoli have had their own issues to deal with this season, following the death of influential winger Oraine Simpson. Simpson was killed in knife attack three weeks ago, however, the team has since responded well, and Hyde is confident they will be able and ready to deliver the goods come tonight's opening whistle.

"We are ready, in fact, we are very ready. We have been preparing for this for this all season. One of our objectives was to reach the end-of-round final and the players have done it. We are now there so we just have to go out there and get the job done," said Hyde.