August Town's Oneil Fairweather stands over the ball after shaking off a challenge from a Santos opponent (on the ground), during opening round action in the Western Union KSAFA Jackie Bell KO game at the UWI Bowl last Saturday. August Town won 3-1. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

Top flight aspirants Duhaney Park and Cavalier will undergo their first major test of the new season when they face each other in the feature game of the Western Union KSAFA Jackie Bell KO competition at Duhaney Park, beginning at 3 p.m. today.

With both Super League teams garnering excellent results in knockout competitions in recent history, a keen battle is expected.

In today's other games, Central Kingston will tackle Molynes United at Winchester Park, St George's College; UWI play Pembroke Hall at the UWI bowl and Bull Bay host Real Mona at Bull Pen.

Although Cavalier earned the badge of giant killers last season, claiming a few Premier League scalps on their trek to the quarter-final, the off-season has seen the team go through quite a few changes.

Lost 17 players

"We lost 17 players out of our squad to Premier League teams and 12 others to Super League teams but we have a good crop of players of all age groups," said Cavalier manager Barrington Deer.

Their major losses include national call-ups Keithy Simpson and Alanzo Adlam, who both moved to Sporting Central Academy.

"We have had some epic battles with Duhaney Park, over the last few years, the games are always well supported and the fact is there isn't much between us. I expect another close, ding-dong battle today," he added.

"The Jackie Bell has been one of our happy hunting grounds for the last couple of seasons and we are looking for that to continue," he said.

Great expectations

Duhaney Park, who made it all the way into the semi-final round of the competition last year, one more than Cavalier, who were eliminated in extra time by Waterhouse, are also hopeful of another big run.

"Our preparation has been a little slow, to this point, but we have great expectations for this tournament," said Duhaney Park manager Conrad Morrison.

"They are a good team, we expect them to come at us, but we are confident, having had the edge over them for the last couple of seasons," he added.

"Whenever we play at home, I think we have a slight advantage and I'm expecting a really good showing, despite having, in some respects, a fairly new team," he said.

The competition started last Saturday and continued this week with matches on Tuesday and Thursday. Maxfield Park led the qualifiers on Tuesday with a 5-1 drubbing of Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF). Yohan Blake netted a double. Neville Brown, Wayne Richards and Rohan Douglas were the other scorers. Jonathan Edwards, who scored a penalty at the 74th minute with his team trailing 4-0, scored the consolation goal for the police officers.

However, there was success for their counterparts from the force, Police National, who beat Mountain View 4-2 on penalties, following a goalless finish. Barbican and Olympic Gardens also ended goalless, but Barbican also won, 4-2, in the penalty shoot-out.

In Thursday's games, Rockfort slipped by Swallow-field 5-4 on penalties, Port Royal clipped Maverley/Hughenden 1-0, Greenwich Town forfeited their fixture to Liguanea, whereas the game between Cooreville Gar-dens and Brown's Town was not played.

TODAY'S GAMES

Central Kingston vs Molynes United at Winchester Park

Duhaney Park vs Cavalier at Duhaney Park

UWI vs Pembroke Hall at UWI Bowl

Bull Bay vs Real Mona at Bull Pen