Chris Bender ... Humble Lions' coach. And Geoffrey Maxwell ... coach of Waterhouse.

RED-HOT Waterhouse and debutantes Humble Lions, who seem to be finding their footing, are expected to contest a fiery battle at Effortville Community Centre in the Digicel Premier League this afternoon at 3:00.

Elsewhere on the fixture, the third-fourth showdown at Lynch Park between St Georges and Boys' Town, as well as Portmore vs Sporting Central, could be quite warm. The Harbour View-Rivoli fixture generally produces goals galore; and a win for the former, while Tivoli Gardens, the defending champions, and Arnett Gardens are getting stronger backing to win against lowly rivals who are off form.

The contestants at Effortville both won on the road last Sunday - Humble Lions 2-1 at Rivoli and Waterhouse 1-0 at Arnett. They are on the upswing and will be making a desperate bid for full points, to enhance their starkly contrasting position in the standings.

The Clarendon outfit now sit third from bottom on 15 points, the same as Village United and three ahead of troubled cellar dwellers August Town, which let off coach Calvert Fitzgerald and replaced him with Paul Young last week.

"We're coming off a win, and what winning does is it gives confidence, and we're hoping that that confidence will build a platform for us going forward," said Christopher Bender, coach of Humble Lions.

"We've short-term and we've long-term goals," Bender disclosed. "Our first goal, which is long term, is that Humble Lions play in the Premier League next season."

Without a point after their first five matches, Waterhouse, now on 27, have virtually risen from the dead and are bona fide championship contenders, sitting six points off leaders Harbour View with six of 11 second-round fixtures complete.

"It is very important, based on our planning and thinking, to take these three points from Humble Lions," said Waterhouse coach, Geoffrey Maxwell.

"Based on our planning, we're hoping to get to the end-of-round final; that is our main target for this round, and second, our intention is to finish in the top three, also by the end of this round."

He added: "We think that we're playing very well, we're very confident in the camaraderie in the squad, and there's a strong belief now in the players that we can achieve all our objectives this round."

Like Waterhouse, Humble Lions are experiencing their best form now, having garnered eight points in this second round. Not great, if you are calculating it against the six matches; but what it represents is a tremendous improvement for a team that earned only seven in 11 first-round matches.

"After the first round finished, we sat down and made some evaluation and assessed the players and where we fell short and the mistakes we made," noted Bender, who played on the same Camperdown team in 1982 with the late Peter Cargill that swept all schoolboy football crowns.

attitude

He added: "The attitude is one of the factors that came up in most of the discussions, that most of the players were not up to par (attitudinally), and based on the results we could've done much better. The first round was a learning experience."

Humble Lions' improvements this stanza have to do with two victories and better defending, conceding only five goals in the last six outings, as opposed to 16 in the first round.

Their depth and resolve will be put to the test as two of their key defenders, Phillip Fearon and Tyrone Lampart, are ineligible for the matchup.

Waterhouse's strike force is very potent and includes the man who netted their winning goal at Arnett last Sunday, Kevin Lamey, who is now very much on his game, and Jermaine 'Tuffy' Anderson.

"Every game we play comes with different expectations, different challenges," noted Bender. "The Waterhouse team brings a major threat in terms of their offence. Waterhouse are an organised, seasoned and experienced team, they have a quality line-up that we'll have to take care of."

The 'Firehouse' team also have their problems, as Maxwell says they will be missing three "first-choice players".

With 13 goals overall and four this round, scoring can hardly be said to be Humble Lions' forte. However, they will look to a capable group of players to lead the charge, namely, Kevin Mighty, who Bender said "is just coming back to full fitness", as well as Errol Wilkie, Kimroy Davis, Zeicko Herrera and Omar Walters, who are their main scorers.

not taking any chances

Waterhouse have conceded only once while scoring seven times this round. But even then, Maxwell says they will not be taking any chances.

"... Teams like Humble Lions that come into the league and weren't doing as well as they had anticipated will give you the fight of your life," he said, looking towards a fierce battle. "These games are even more important than playing the top teams because these are the teams that can hurt you.

"Not taking Humble Lions very seriously would be a danger to ourselves."

Games on

Village United vs Tivoli Gardens at Elliston Wakeland Community Centre at 3 p.m.

St Georges Sports Club vs Boys' Town at Lynch Park at 3 p.m.

Humble Lions vs Waterhouse at Effortville Community Centre at 3 p.m.

August Town vs Arnett Gardens at UWI Bowl at 3 p.m.

Harbour View vs Rivoli United at Harbour View Mini Stadium at 6:30 p.m.

Portmore United vs Sporting Central Academy at Ferdie Neita Park at 7:30 p.m.

Standings

Digicel Premier League standings after matches played last Sunday.