Lions, Kallon and Ports to launch title bids
Well, the Sierra Leone Premier League is back. Here is a preview for games coming up in the weekend. There are prospective mouthwatering matches on the calendar, but will they leave up to the hype?
RSLAF v East End Tigers
This is a match between two weeping boys in the league. Last season these two clubs lost a combined total of 22 games, 11 each.
No team in the league lost more games than these two. To do better they know they will have to stop the point leakage and win something in every game that they can.
Tigers finished 9th in the league with 26 points and RSLAF finished 12th with 22 points. So that four-point gap between the two could be the difference between survival and relegation this season.
Date: Friday, 6th December
Venue: National Stadium
Time: 6pm
East End Lions v Ports Authority
The second leg of this particular fixture last season was one of those title deciding games. Lions coach, John Keister showed his genius on that night to keep his club’s unbeaten record intact.
With a goal down and five minutes to go he gambled and threw in a very tall center back in attack. It paid off and his team equalized at the death of the game.
Fresh from their Challenge Cup loss to FC Kallon, Lions know they will have to work harder than last season to keep this title. Beating Ports will be a perfect start. It will also send the right message.
Ports had an average season last season, though they finished 4th. For teams like Port, the expectation has always been to push for the title. There were times last season that we were all baffled by the level of quality we saw in the squad, it was low.
They started strongly by winning their first three games and then they (slid) downwards. This season they will have to do better.
Date: Saturday 7th December
Venue: National Stadium
Time: 6pm
FC Kallon v Old Edwardians
These two teams have one thing in common, they both defeated East End Lions to rob them of a trophy in pre-season. You will hope that is enough motivation for them to perform strongly this season.
FC Kallon lost this league last season through their own making. They fumbled several chances to extend their lead at the top of the table. On occasions where they were expected to turn up, they shrug with fright and naivety and threw it all away.
FC Kallon play beautiful football, but they must be ruthless and sometimes nasty to win this league, as they did last weekend against Lions to beat them in the Challenge Cup.
For Edwards, this season will be a test. Last season they were forgiven for being poor. This season they have hired a new coach and they lost their star man, Suffian Kalokoh. Such is the contrast of their development.
How they fare against FC Kallon will tell a lot about how they will fare through the rest of the season.
Date: Sunday, 8th December
Venue: National Stadium
Time: 6pm
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