Sport

Tivoli shock H View, Waterhouse on top

Waterhouse's Richard West tries to give Portmore's Jason Morrison the slip during their Wray and Nephew Premier League first leg semi-final encounter at the National Stadium yesterday. Waterhouse F.C won the game 1-0 courtesy of a late Kevin Lamey goal. - ricardo makyn

WRAY AND NEPHEW National Premier League defending champions Tivoli Gardens hit top form at the right time to shock Harbour View 3-1 in the feature match of the first-leg semi-final double-header at the National Stadium last night.

Tivoli were following closely in the footsteps of Waterhouse, who managed a goal in time added on from the boots of Kevin Lamey to eke out a slim 1-0 lead over Portmore United going into Sunday's return-leg games.

Dean's penalty

In the feature Roland Dean got the game started for the defending champions in the 34th minute, while Christopher Jackson tightened their grip on the game five minutes later with a goal from the penalty spot.

Lovell Palmer pulled one back for the 'Stars of the East' in the 68th minute before his team's hearts were broken by substitute Kemar Mills' 85th minute goal.

All is not lost, were the sentiments of Donovan Hayles.

"We are down but not out," he said.

It didn't look that way last night though, as Tivoli looked the championship side that people had been waiting for all season.

They were first to the ball every time and closed down Jermaine Hue in no uncertain manner.

As a matter of fact the only opportunities Harbour View had in the first-half came from long range efforts that Hue coined from nothing and that really ended in nothing.

To make matters worse, Harbour View were dreadfully slow in making the transition from offence to defence, while Tivoli were lightning quick in doing the reciprocal.

What should be noted was that all the goals came from counter-attacking situations.

In the first instance, Craig Stewart lost a ball on the half-line to Steve Green, who passed the ball short to Waheem Walker.

Walker had been the orchestrator of all of Tivoli's attacks through the middle for the game and this time was no different, as he played a well-weighted through ball to the pacey Roland Dean, who outran both the chasing Christopher Harvey and the approaching Leighton Murray to easily tap home.

The two other goals also came when Harbour View were caught in possession by a Tivoli team, that was certain they wanted to follow the example of Waterhouse in upsetting the apple cart by defending stoutly in the middle of the park.

A big part of that was the marking job done on Jermaine Hue by Steve Green. In truth Green used tough methods far too often for the liking of the Harbour View fans in achieving his goal, but achieve it he did, as the little magician was relegated to very few opportunities at forward movement.

Attacking Tivoli

The job of attacking Tivoli was placed squarely on the shoulders of Palmer, and while he did a fair job, he was doing one that wasn't his natural game, given the fact that he is also expected to be one of the stronger defensive midfielders.

After the game, Tivoli's Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey praised his team for stepping up a gear to meet the challenge that Harbour View presented.

"I must praise the team they really reacted today. Nobody gave us any chance today but we talked to the team and they were motivated by everybody saying that we can't beat Harbour View," he said.

The semi-finals will continue on Sunday with Harbour View needing two goals to get back on level terms, while Portmore just need a goal to give themselves a chance at a final berth.