- Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Tivoli forward Roland Dean dribbles by Harbour View captain Damion Stewart during the first-leg Wray and Nephew National Premier League final at the National Stadium last night. Tivoli won the game 4-1.
Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
WITH ONE-LEG of the two way Wray and Nephew National Premier League final tie to go, Tivoli Gardens, with the aid of a brace from Christopher Jackson, have one hand firmly on the Premier trophy with a 4-1 whipping of title contenders Harbour View at the National Stadium last night.
Jackson scored in the 36th minute and Tivoli had claimed their second in the 54th through Roland Dean. Harbour View managed to pull one back in the 58th with an effort from Oneil 'Bigga' Smith. However, Tivoli came back to knock in two more when Jackson had his second of the night, in the 80th minute, and Lenworth Hyde Jr. pushed one over the line in the 85th.
Jackson, who was having a solid game up until the point when he scored, found himself Tivoli's dead-ball trump card when his team was given a free-kick 22 yards from goal. With everyone looking for Fabian Davis to conjure up his spot-kicking magic, Jackson quietly stepped up and curled a ferocious free-kick away from a hapless Leon Gordon in the Harbour View goal.
Tivoli's second goal started just as innocuously as the first with Davis knocking a run of the mill pass to Hyde who turned and expertly chipped a ball over the head of the defenders behind him. An aggressive run by Dean on to Hyde's delicate pass found goalkeeper Gordon wanting and the forward had an easy time tapping the ball home.
Harbour View came to life after that and deservedly pegged back the lead with a less than beautiful goal from Smith.
A LULL
Tivoli went into a lull after that. However, Harbour View lapsed and gave Hyde too much time and space to cross a picture-perfect ball to Jackson on the far post who notched up what is thus far, with only a game to go, the goal of the season, his left-foot powerhouse of a volley leaving Gordon, once again, a mere spectator.
Tivoli's final goal was not the most beautiful and could be chalked up to Harbour View's shock at what had already occurred. Another brilliant free-kick from Davis
wasn't gathered by Gordon and the Harbour View back-line didn't react to the rebound and Hyde tapped a ball past Gordon who got a faint touch on the ball but had to watch as it crept agonisingly slowly over the goal line.
After that, Tivoli went on the rampage and were unfortunate not to have two or three more goals before the end of the game. In an act of frustration or desperation, whichever came first, Damion 'Stewpeas' Stewart was sent off after a second bookable offence, stemming from a late tackle that will serve to give his team and even steeper mountain to climb come Sunday in the second-leg.
Tivoli coach, Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey, was pleased with his team's performance and attributed it to good defending.
"Well, I think we played a compact game. I think we made the transition from defence to attack very well, but everything came down to the tracking. The tracking was marvellous today," Bailey said.
Harbour View coach Donovan 'D.V.' Hayles was disappointed with what his team brought to the table last night.
"This is a final and the performance for me is far below par but nevertheless we are here and we are here to fight," he said.
Harbour View had better luck when their Under-21s managed to eke out a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Portmore United. Kamar Peterkin (38th) and Akeem Priestly (91st) got the goals for Harbour View while Howard Wong got Portmore's goal in the 28th minute of play.
