WESTERN BUREAU:
SEBA UNITED'S resurgence in the NPL got a major boost last night when goals by Winfred Smith (two) and Delroy Ellis carried them to a big 3-0 win over Tivoli Gardens at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay.
While it was all joy for Seba United's coach Heron Grey, who was celebrating his birthday, the defeat had a sobering impact on Tivoli Garden's coach, Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey, who blamed the defeat on the after-effects of heavy partying by his players over the Christmas period.
"Everything went just well for me today. It is my birthday so I have double reason to celebrate today," said Grey, who recently took over from Paul 'Tegat' Davis as Seba United's head coach. "I think I can have two drinks tonight to celebrate the two events."
By virtue of their win, Seba United remain eighth in the overall standings with 20 points but have drawn much closer to the teams in mid-table.
Tivoli, who started the game in third position on 28 points, dropped two places in the standings, having been overtaken by champions Portmore and Village.
"Playing a game right after the festive season is always going to be difficult in the aftermath of all the partying," said coach Bailey. "We really just have to regroup and come again. One defeat is not the end of the world."
The game started quite even with both teams taking turns in attack. However, Seba were the first to stamp their authority when they struck in the 16th minute. Delroy Ellis ran on to a pass from midfield and, with wet surface proving difficult for two chasing defenders, booted passed the helpless goalkeeper, making the score 1-0.
CREATED GOOD OPPORTUNITIES
Tivoli should have gotten back into the game midway through the half as they created two good opportunities. However, Roland Dean failed on both attempts to get past Alrick Henry, who had a fairly decent night in goal for the Seba team.
The second half saw Seba continuing to master the wet conditions, mounting non-stop pressure on Tivoli. They doubled their lead in the 61st minute when Smith pounced on a pass from midfield, squeezed between two defenders and crashed home powerfully, making the score 2-0.
After watching Tivoli coming perilously close in the 65th minute when Dean's fabulous close-range grounder was brilliantly saved by a diving Henry, Seba United widened their lead eight minutes later.
The wily Smith caught the Tivoli defence napping and sped away before placing his shot out of the reach of the goalkeeper, making the score 3-0.
With Tivoli rattled and offering up very little resistance, Smith just failed to get his hat-trick on the stroke of fulltime. He got away clean on the goalkeeper but surprisingly fired straight at the advancing custodian when he could easily have picked a spot wide of him.
GOALSHEET
Seba 3
Delroy Ellis, 16th, Winfred Smith ,61st, 73rd
Tivoli 0
