By Ainsley Walters & Charmaine Austin, Staff Reporters 
Tivoli Gardens striker Roland Dean rounds Hazard goalkeeper Shawn Sawyers (on ground) as teammate Christopher Green looks on and Hazard defender Derrick Smith (right) rushes in to cover an empty goal. - Michael Sloley /Freelance Photographer
CHAMPIONS ARNETT Gardens yesterday rushed to the top of the Premier League with a game in hand, brushing aside faltering Bull Bay 3-0 at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex.
Goals from Kevin Wilson (43rd), Gerald Neil (57th) and Kwame Richardson (71st) gave the 'Junglists' the only three-point result in the afternoon's Corporate Area games, putting them level on 16 with Hazard, who slipped to second on goal difference after a 0-0 draw with Tivoli at Ferdie Neita Park.
Elsewhere around town, Roberto Fletcher denied Seba victory by twice pulling Waterhouse from a goal down in a 2-2 draw at Emmett Park.
Sein McNeish put Seba in front before Fletcher scored his first goal. Norman Foster's penalty made it 2-1 at half-time for the visitors but Fletcher struck again just after the break to earn a draw.
At Ferdie Neita Park, Hazard goalie Shawn Sawyers, last season's top man between the sticks, proved his worth after Tivoli came out for the second half firing almost at will at goal from in and around his 18-yard box.
The national invitee 'keeper gave his bench a scare when he failed to hold onto Layton Barrett's hip-height scorcher in the 48th minute but a spectacular mid-air save outside his box off Christopher Nicholas left the Tivoli forward staring in amazement nine minutes later.
Tivoli got a golden chance to break the deadlock in the 60th minute when Nicholas opted to pass the ball inside the area instead of shooting with Sawyers stranded at one side of goal.
"We made all the openings and should have won," Tivoli coach Geoffrey Maxwell said after the match. "Hazard's 'keeper was the man of the match. He saved them about two times," he noted, adding his side had not trained in more than two weeks due to unrest in the western Kingston area.
Hazard enjoyed better possession for the first 30 minutes, controlling midfield with Omar Daley proving a handful for his markers after his miserable midweek showing for the Reggae Boyz against Japan.
Neither team got a look at goal until the 25th minute when Nicholas back-heeled a pass into Hazard's area for Christopher Green but his goal-bound shot was blocked by Claude Davis, who was already limping and was replaced by Derrick Smith close to half-time.
Inside the first minute after the break, Omar Nelson was sent clear one-on-one with Tivoli goalie Edsel Scott but his lob under pressure sailed wide of goal.
Tivoli replied almost immediately after and had Hazard under siege for the next 15 minutes, forcing coach Hyde to summon Woolery Wolfe and Kevin Deerr off the bench, replacing Kemeel Wolfe and Andrew Morrison.
The Hazard pair brought some punch with Deerr running dangerously at Tivoli's defence but Marco McDonald and sweeper Kasai Hinds made sure the score remained at 0-0 with stern defending.
"Not losing is a good result," Hyde said after the entertaining match-up. "Tivoli handle the ball well," he noted. I love how my team soaked up the pressure and didn't give up a goal."
Both coaches are already looking to Wednesday's round, Tivoli against Waterhouse at Ferdie Neita Park with coach Maxwell facing one of his many former teams.
Hazard travel uptown to face Constant Spring, gunning for a win to keep pace with Arnett, who'll face Village at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex.
At Arnett the defending champions extended their winning streak by inflicting a 3-0 defeat on promoted East Kingston side Bull Bay in a fairly competitive match.
"They entered the lion's den and got three bites. It could have been more but the Bull Bay unit looks an improved bunch," said Arnett's coach Jerome Waite at the end of the match.
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Goals from Kevin "Pele" Wilson (43rd), Gerald Neil (56th) and Kwame Richardson (70th) secured the victory for Arnett but Bull Bay's Milton Griffiths in particular dodged in and out of the spotlight with excellent plays.
In summing up the game, Waite said: "We played a very disciplined, organised game. We accomplished all that we had set out to do but I think we gave Bull Bay too much respect because they didn't come at us the way we had expected them to."
Bull Bay's player/coach Barrington Gaynor did not agree.
"We didn't play badly. Defensively we were poor as demonstrated by the three goals scored against us but we tried otherwise. We hunted a goal in the second half but despite our many raids did not produce anything," he said.
The game started to look like a training session for Arnett after Richardson's goal and this Waite says "showed that the team could still keep its concentration despite being ahead.
"They had already secured a comfortable lead so it was good to see them passing the ball around and basically having fun without losing the focus."
Gaynor praised Arnett's effort.
"Arnett were definitely the better team. Our message prior to the game was that it wouldn't be a walkover. In a way it wasn't a walkover despite the score but then what can we say?"
