More work ahead for TG
Williams brace for playoff challenge as Tivoli secure key win
Published:Sunday | September 5, 2021 | 12:08 AMRobert Bailey - Gleaner Writer
If Tivoli Gardens Head Coach Philip Williams was excited about his team’s return to the Jamaica Premier League playoffs, one could not tell from his grounded demeanor, with his business-like approach to the assignments to come, belying the excitement of his team’s latest win yesterday afternoon.
Williams watched on as his striker Horatio Morgan helped himself to the first hattrick in this season’s competition, to guide the west Kingston team to a thrilling 4-3 victory over Humble Lion at the UWI-JFF-Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence.
Morgan, 22, scored his goals in the fifth, 30th and 40th minutes in the match, while Devroy Gray added a fourth goal for Tivoli Gardens in the 85th minute.
Lorenzo Lewin bagged a brace for Humble Lion, with strikes in the 45th and 90th minute with Andre Clennon also scoring in the 63rd minute for the Clarendon outfit.
The victory has cemented Tivoli’s spot in the playoffs of the tournament, their first appearance since the 2017-2018 season.
The west-Kingston based team has moved up from sixth to second in the standings with 16 points, with one game remaining in the preliminary round of the competition.
“It is a great feeling that we have given ourselves the chance to be in the play-offs,” said Williams. “That is the plan from game one, which is to win the competition and getting in the playoffs is one of our objectives and we just hope to push on from here.”
GOOD FEELING
“We have worked very hard and there were a lot of ups and downs especially with the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of training and preparing and to be in this position is really a good feeling for us,” Williams said.
Former champions Waterhouse (+9) lead the table with 16 points as results of their superior goal difference over Tivoli (+3). Meanwhile, Humble Lion remain at the bottom of the table on six points.
In the opening match of the double-header, Dunbeholden squandered a glorious chance to book their place in the playoffs after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Arnett Gardens.
Dwayne Smith gave Dunbeholden the lead in the 51st minute but they were pegged back by a Steve Clarke equaliser for Arnett Gardens in the 74th minute.
The St Catherine-based Dunbeholden, 14 points, now occupy the final playoff spot in sixth place in the standings heading into this weekend’s final set of games.
Defending champions Portmore United slipped to seventh on 13 points followed by Harbour View on 12, as the race for the top six positions head into the final preliminary round, with the top eight teams separated by a mere four points.
Dunbeholden will face Mount Pleasant Academy in their final game and their Assistant Coach Ricardo Smith underlined the stakes.
“In the final game, we have to tell ourselves that it is a must-win game because we had the chance here to secure a top six position and we didn’t take it,” said Smith. “We now have a week to prepare for the last game and we must go into that game with the mindset of winning it if want to make it into the playoffs.”
Arnett Gardens, who are out of contention for a spot in the playoffs, are ninth in the table on eight points.