Tivoli's Wayne Cole (right) and Michael Jones of Waterford battle for an aerial ball during their Manning Cup game at Waterford yesterday. Tivoli won 2-1. WATERFORD COMPREHENSIVE, playing in front of a vociferous home crowd, put up a brave display before going down 2-1 to defending Manning Cup champions Tivoli Gardens Comprehensive in their Manning Cup encounter in Portmore yesterday.
Travis Walsh's seventh minute strike sent Tivoli into the lead but a glorious free-kick from Hosea Renton gave Waterford the equaliser which they kept until the 67th minute when Rucka DaCosta netted the winner.
"It was a tough game," said Tivoli's coach Dave Clarke after the game.
"The field played a part in the result. I am not saying that our home turf is perfect but it is certainly a lot better."
Despite Clarke's complaint, he conceded the hosts were better than he thought.
"Waterford played very well. I was a bit surprised. They just did not give us enough time and space to do what we wanted with the ball and that, along with the surface, made the game very tough for us," he said.
Everton James, coach of Waterford, although disappointed with the loss, said his team almost created an upset.
"I am disappointed. I thought we had the better of play but inexperience let us down. A number of our players are young and inexperienced and playing against the champions was a big occasion for them.
"We could have played much better. We trained hard for this game. Dave Clarke is my friend I know how he thinks and I prepared my players to play that sort of game and we just missed winning," he said.
Tivoli, although playing away from home, was the first team to settle and soon afterwards made it count. A cross from the right by Orane Simpson was miscontrolled by an attending Waterford defender inside the box, providing Walsh with a lovely chance to score which he gleefully accepted, firing past goalkeeper David Morgan.
Six minutes before half-time, Waterford drew level. A neat pass from Allan Douglas on the left found Michael Jones in the middle of the field. He dribbled his way to the top of the area where he was hacked to the ground by the strong tackling Tivoli defenders. Renton took the resulting free-kick and floated it beautifully over a four-man wall and into the back of the net.
Both teams remained locked at 1-1 until midway through the second stanza when Rucka Dacosta collected a long pass from the midfield and used his speed to get inside the box and shoot past Morgan.
Waterford, still not daunted although trailing, launched some serious raids at the Tivoli goal and were a bit unlucky not to have gained at least a point for their efforts.
Two minutes after Tivoli went in front, Renton hit the top of the bar with another well taken free-kick from just outside the area and a minute later, Michael Jones had his shot just parried by Tivoli's goalkeeper Jermaine Simpson.
