MoBay Sports Complex readies for Boyz-Cuba showdown

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

CATHERINE HALL, St James — The playing surface at the Montego Bay Sports Complex will be in top shape and ready to host the Jamaican and Cuban teams when they meet in the second of two friendly internationals at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Friday.

Aubrey Duncan Jnr, manager of the complex, said Sunday that a team has been working on the field to make sure it is in tip-top shape for the game.

The teams will meet in the first game on Wednesday at the National Stadium in Kingston before moving to Montego Bay two days later.

Duncan told the Observer his team was doing everything to ensure the field was in much better condition than last March when Jamaica played there, losing to Venezuela in another friendly.

The field then was not in good condition with loose underfoot conditions as repairs to the surface had been carried out earlier in the year for the CONCACAF Under-17 Men's finals.

Since then, Duncan said the grass has grown significantly stronger and the "surface had filled out nicely and can be described as lush," he said.

Red Stripe Premier League team Montego Bay United have been using the facility as their home venue this season with no complaints, he pointed out.

Duncan reported that a technical delegation had toured the facility last week after a meeting at the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and had given the field the thumbs up.

The preparation of the field he said had entailed "lots of watering, fertilising and getting rid of the weeds" to ensure a uniform quality.

After Sunday's Premier League game, he said preparation would step up a notch or two. "We will continue the watering and weeding as well as fertilizing... we will also apply a light roller before cutting the field on Thursday to get the surface as smooth as we can," said Duncann.