Nodley Wright, Freelance Writer

VILLAGE UNITED put in a spirited performance to hold the more fancied Tivoli Gardens to a 1-1 draw in their Wray and Nephew National Premier League match at the Elliston Wakeland Centre in Trelawny yesterday.

Jamaica representative Roland Dean fired the visitors ahead in the ninth minute, while former Jamaica Under-17 player Christopher Stone levelled for Village in the 24th minute.

The draw dampened Tivoli Gardens' hopes of renewing their challenge for the title and left coach Calvert Fitzgerald hitting out at the selfishness of his players.

"On the road a point is good but based on the situation that we are in we need all the points we can get," Fitzgerald said. "We scored a goal and got two more chances and should have been 3-0 up but after that everyone started playing selfish as they thought it was an easy game and I believe that is where we lost it," said Fitzgerald, who fielded a team minus the influential pair of Fabian Davis and Christopher Nicholas.

Work in progress

Village United's Fitzroy 'Johnny' Reid hailed the continued improvement of his team. "It is work in progress," Reid said of the way his players applied themselves.

"We need to concentrate some more but we have some time to work that out. We have about a one-week break during which we will concentrate on that," he said. It was lack of concentration in the Village defence that gifted Tivoli Gardens their goal. Failure to clear a ball allowed Dean to capitalise and he made no mistake from about eight yards.

Stone's reply was a beauty. The former Atlanta Silverbacks player showed strength and creativity when he placed his body between a challenging defender and the ball and, with his side to goal, hooked the ball past the goalkeeper with his preferred left foot.

Tivoli Gardens 1 (Roland Dean ninth) Village United 1 (Christopher Stone 24th)