By S. Siapha Mulbah
The ascendency of Paynesville Football Club to the Liberia Football Association National First Division League table will, in the remaining phase of the league, make for an enthusiastic competition among top participants on the country’s football stage.
Paynesville FC is a toddler to the topflight league and is considering making an impressive debut with more courage on obtaining the national league title for the first time in their history.
With the highest points at the end of the season, despite the participation of notable clubs that are noted for supremacy in the football arena for number of years, Paynesville FC has positioned itself as a major contender for the title.
Over the weekend, the Citizens moved atop the table with a 3-1 win over Freeport Football Club to push neighboring Watanga Football Club, who had enjoyed the top spot for several weeks, down to second-place on goal difference. Defending Champions, Liberia Shipping and Corporate Registry (LISCR) Football Club, will now occupy the third spot with a point less than the table toppers.
With the points between the league leaders and all the teams in the top four section of the league log being less than two on the average per game, it is clear that there remains a cloud over the prediction of which Liberian football team is going to end the ongoing 2023/2024 campaign top of the pile, in order to represent the country at the level of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League.
After round 17 of the 26 rounds, home and away, teams with courage that the conclusion of the second phase of the national league will favor them as the next champions as they stand among the table leaders are: first place, Paynesville FC- 36 points; second place, Watanga FC- 36 points; third place, LISCR FC- 35 points; fourth place, Mighty Barrolle- 34 points, and Heaven Eleven football club in the fifth place with 32 points.
Meanwhile, the ‘Sunshine Yellow Boys’ of the Majestic Sports Association, Invincible Eleven Football Club, remain just a single point above the relegation zone, making them unsafe for the following round of the league that will be played at the upcoming weekend.
IE is on an average of a point per game after 17 rounds of the competition. They have 17 points, one above Kallon Football Club of Liberia that is leading the relegation quarter of the log with 16 accumulative points.
Cece United and the National Port Authority (NPA) Anchors are still swimming in the pool of defeat as both teams’ maintenance of the bottom two spots stands to make them the first two possible teams for eviction at the end of the season.
Both Cece United and NPA, since the start of the 2023/2024 campaign in September of 2023, have only been able to collect a single win each. Cece also drew three of their fixtures to get six points, while the ‘Port Boys’ managed to draw two of their fixtures to accumulate five points.
