By LeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter
Tivoli's captain Kasai Hinds (right) and teammates Lenworth Hyde Jr. (centre) and Darren Virtue celebrate while lifting the trophy after their 3-2 win over Rivoli in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League Second End-of-Round final at Harbour View Mini Stadium yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn / Staff Photographer
TIVOLI GARDENS are kingpins of the Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) as their 3-2 victory over Rivoli United in a thrilling Second End-of-Round final clash at the Harbour View Mini Stadium yesterday pushed them to the top of the standings with 45 points.
Apart from leading the league, Tivoli also pocketed $150,000 and yesterday's victory was a confidence booster heading into the third round and vying to remain one of the top four teams for a semi-final berth.
In a highly competitive and emotionally driven game, both teams traded blow for blow, neither willing to let the other claim victory.
At the end of regulation time the game was in a 2-2 deadlock, but seven minutes in sudden-death extra time, substitute Fabian Malcolm settled all qualms with the goal that would send Tivoli to the upper echelons of the premier league.
RED CARD
Rivoli conceded the goal with 10 men in action as Mobi Oparaku was shown the red card two minutes earlier.
Oparaku had given Rivoli the lead in the 43rd minute with a header from a Garfield Reid cross.
Sixty seconds later, Christopher Nicholas scored his 11th goal of the season to tie the game. Tivoli's goal came while playing with 10 men as midfielder Steve Green received a nasty blow from Rivoli's Miguel Perrin.
The intensity increased in the second half and both teams matched each other's attack.
In the 64th minute Reid cracked a spectacular left-footer that Tivoli's goalie Philmore Crumbie had no chance of stopping despite getting a hand to it. Tivoli again equalised when captain Kasai Hinds connected in the area on a Fabian Davis corner in the 83rd minute.
Rivoli did not leave the Compound empty handed. They received one bonus point and $100,000 but that did not seem to matter to an obviously dejected Bradley Stewart.
EXCELLENT GAME
"Firstly I want to applaud Tivoli for an excellent game," he said
"I think that games, though, have a balance, and the balance in any game is honest officiating and I didn't think that today we were afforded that opportunity," he argued.
"...Players get punched and not even a card, I mean, it's tantamount to being criminal," he cried.
"Besides that though I thought we played excellently. It was nice to have watched the game," Stewart said.
Tivoli's coach, Glendon 'Admi-ral' Bailey, said that his team's play was characteristic of their drive and undying spirit which have carried them so far.
"This team is a fighting team; we never stop playing until the final whistle blow, which is why we have such a good game today because you have two teams that are fighting right to the end," Bailey said.
After sitting atop the league for the first time this season, Bailey said that from here on the ultimate prize is what his team is after.
"I think we can go all the way. We have the players in terms of capabilities to fight and get the job done and if we continue like this and keep the discipline we will be there," he said.
Arnett Gardens' Under-21s win final
Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
ARNETT GARDENS' Under-21s are not following in the footsteps of their senior counterparts in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League, as they came away End of Second Round title winners with a hard fought 1-0 victory over Harbour View in yesterday's final.
The victory must be especially sweet since it took place at Harbour View to stun the home crowd that showed allegiance to their team. Premier League starter Leon Strickland found the back of the net in the 34th minute.
"It is good to win here and I hope that this is the start of good things because we have a long season in store," said Jerome Waite, Arnett Gardens' coach. "It is good to know that even with seven of our main players absent we could still pull off a result like this."
Harbour View have been playing wonderful football this round and got to the finals after finding themselves in 11th place in the overall tables at the end of the first round. Making an almost miraculous drive for the front-runners, the east Kingston team launched into fourth, having won their last four games with better than 3-0 margins.
PHYSICAL NATURE
That form was not displayed in the final as the more physical nature of the Arnett team seemed to upset their rhythm and the free flowing football that got them to this stage was nowhere in sight.
The ploy that the youngsters came up with was retaliatory rather than constructive and in so doing the lads lost focus and could have gone down by more than the odd goal to an Arnett team that looked organised enough to take advantage of such weaknesses.
Arnett attacked with fluency and put Harbour View under pressure for extended periods of time and it was only a matter of time before the goal came.
Strickland, with a one on one with Harbour View custodian, Anthony Christie, fired early to beat the 'keeper, who couldn't get down in time.
In the second-half the home team seemed to have the advantage. However, they never turned that potential into goals and had to settle for only one bonus point to improve their tally to 24, three behind Arnett on 27. Portmore United lead at 35, while Star Cosmos are second on 29.
Harbour View coach, Ludlow Bernard was visibly surprised by the result.
"I didn't expect this," he said. "I expected the midfield to really dominate because that has been the strength, but it seemed that the physical tactics in the middle of the field nullified their effect."
Golden goal hero ecstatic
Daraine Luton, Freelance Writer
IN FOOTBALL circles it is called a golden goal, but Fabian Malcolm's 97th minute strike that took a wicked deflection off defender Omar Parker and left Rivoli's goalkeeper Dennis Clayton for dead came with added value.
It injected $150,000 into Tivoli Gardens' account, gave them three bonus points and added the Wray and Nephew National Premier League End of Second Round Trophy to their collection.
No wonder Malcolm was ecstatic about the job he did as a substitute.
OVERWHELMED
"I feel overwhelmed...yes, mi feel good fi know seh a mi score the finisher fi Tivoli win," Malcolm told The Gleaner after he was released by screaming Tivoli fans who invaded the playfield at Compound to celebrate their team's triumph.
Malcolm came on in stoppage time to replace substitute Kahreem Cooke, who had to be stretchered off after being hit in the face, causing him to bleed profusely.
Prior to Cooke tasting action, Tivoli lost Steve Green who was hit in the face by Miguel Perrin, resulting in him suffering a concussion. The loss of Green and the man who replaced him, Cooke, meant that Tivoli's coach Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey had to find a man to fill the gap in midfield. He turned to Malcolm and the young man did not disappoint.
Knowing that Green had been sent to the hospital by the team's medical consultant, Dr. Carlton Frazer, for X-ray of the skull and seeing Cooke with dressing over his swollen left eye, Malcolm was aware of what sudden-death meant.
HARD WORK
"I knew I had to work hard, physically and mentally," Mal-colm said.
He also added that he was "worried before the equaliser".
However, as it relates to the moment when he hit jackpot, Malcolm said: "Right now I don't even know what to say. It's a very good moment to know that I finished it and know it inna di back a di net. I feel good."
Naturally, Malcolm did not only make his coach Bailey look like a genius, but he did him proud. In doing so he also silenced critics who held the view that Tivoli's bench only delivers when Christoher Nicholas comes off it.
"This is what it is all about... when you call up a player he steps to the plate and gets the job done," Bailey said of Malcolm's work.
"The worse thing for a coach is to put a player in and not get anything from him. It is always good when you make a change and the player delivers," Bailey added.
