THERE were differing fortunes for the Gardens as they met yesterday at the Railway Oval in the second round of the Craven A National Premier League.
Tivoli Gardens, who last week lost their opening game 0-1 to Waterhouse, bounced back to pile more misery on Arnett Gardens by beating them 2-1. It was Arnett's second loss in a row.
Tivoli deserved the win as they took the game to their opponents who looked short of ideas especially up front.
National invitee Christopher Nicholas opened the scoring for Tivoli Gardens in the 13th minute. The bulky player was at the end of a build-up which started close to the half line and ended with Steve Green releasing him just inside the 18-yard box.
With the Arnett defenders standing around, waiting for him to run at them, Nicholas picked his spot and lodged the ball into the roof of the net as a helpless Selvin Collins in goal looked on.
Two minutes later, Tivoli could have made their increasing dominance count on the scoresheet when Amos Israel collected a neat back heel from Damion Brown and blasted it onto the crossbar.
Arnett tried to put up a fight but their forward line looked impotent. Jahmani Anderson and Carlington Emanuel neverlooked like threatening a very strong Tivoli backline which included national representative Marco McDonald, Trvor Fuller, Conroy Brown, Israel and Orville Campbell.
Arnett Gardens were denied what looked like a certain goal by stand-in goalkeeper Steve Stevenson. A 30th minute long-range strike from Fabian Davis was well saved.
The threat of Arnett getting back into the game seemed to spur Tivoli and they took the fight to Arnett. Defender Newton Dacosta chose to take on an opponent and lost the ball. The ball ended up with Steve Green inside the Arnett penalty area.
Green was stopped by the hard-tackling Ian Mighty with what looked like a clean challenge but referee Hughill Thompson pointed to the penalty spot. The midfield artist Jermaine Johnson made no mistake from the spot.
A face-saving goal came for Arnett in the 87th minute when Garfield Rennicks pounced on a rebound from his corner and blasted the ball goalwards from an acute angle. To his surprise, the ball ended up in the net.
Arnett Gardens' coach Jerome Waite admitted the team was missing some key offensive players but felt that the game was a good experience for the new players while Allie McNab, coach of Tivoli Gardens, gave his players a five and a half out of 10 for their effort.
By Nodley Wright
Staff Reporter
RESULTS
Olympic Gardens 0 Harbour View 4
Hazard 0 Reno 1
Tivoli Gardens 2 Arnett Gardens 1
Constant Spring 2 Wadadah 2
Waterhouse 1 Seba 1
