Sport

Tivoli race into semis

By PAUL-ANDRE WALKER, Staff Reporter

Roen Nelson, left, of Portmore United keeps his eyes on the ball while under pressure from Seba United's Rupert Lewin during their Wray & Nephew National Premier League clash at Ferdie Neita Park yesterday. Portmore won 1-0. - Ricardo Makyn

TIVOLI GARDENS YESTERDAY booked their place in the semi-final of the Wray and Nephew National Premier League with four rounds in hand.

The runaway Premier League leaders must have thought their 1-1 draw against Invaders would have meant waiting until their next fixture to book their place. That was until news hit that both joint fourth placed Waterhouse and Rivoli (47) drew their games, making it impossible for them to overtake the league leaders, who are on 61 points.

Lenworth Hyde Jr. opened the scoring for Tivoli in the 56th minute only to have it wiped away by a Victor Thompson own goal in the 67th minute.

Own goals seemed to be the order of the day as Star Cosmos managed to score two goals in a 1-1 draw with Waterhouse at Drewsland.

Waterhouse's erratic performances since winning the first round final were epitomised yesterday when they failed to find the back of the net for 90 minutes against the league's worst team.

It took a Keon Clunis own goal in the 71st minute to put Waterhouse on level terms with Star Cosmos, who had been holding on to a 1-0 advantage since the 37th minute.

At the Prison Oval, Arnett and Rivoli played to a 0-0 stalemate. Rivoli were lucky to have gotten a point as Arnett could have scored on a number of occasions and can boast about having the better opportunities.

Arnett's coach Jerome Waite was duty disappointed with the performance.

"We got the chancees but we just didn't put them away," he said.

Those results, while being good for Tivoli, were to the detriment of Waterhouse and Rivoli, who have now been joined on 47 points by Village, who are also looking to book their spot for the semi final stage of the competition.

Rivoli coach Bradley Stewart, while being cognisant of his precarious position was not too perturbed with his result.

"We had to play today with three of our main players out. Bearing in mind Waterhouse's draw, we are still in the mix," he said.

A little higher up on the food chain stand Harbour View and Portmore United, who are joint second on 53 points.

Harbour View gained three valuable points when they eked out a 1-0 victory over Reno at Frome thanks to a Jermaine Hue strike.

Portmore got their three points in similar fashion through an Anthony Modeste header in time-added during the first half at Ferdie Neita Park.