Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
Tivoli Gardens' Jermaine Taylor holds his position over the ball while bending slightly to fend off a challenge from Harbour View's Loxley Thomas (right) in their Wray and Nephew National Premier League match at Edward Seaga Stadium yesterday. - ANDREW SMITH/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
TWO GOALS by Jermaine Johnson led Tivoli Gardens to an exciting 2-1 win over Harbour View during their Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) game at the Edward Seaga Stadium yesterday.
Johnson struck in the 45th and 89th minutes, with his first goal - a bicycle kick - being a contender for the Goal of the Season.
Substitute Fabian Davis, making a return to competitive action for well over one year, floated a ball into the box and Johnson's spectacular overhead kick flew past Ryan Thompson in goal.
Desmond Breakenridge levelled the scores a moment later with the home fans still buzzing with excitement over Johnson's spectacular goal. His rasping 25-metre free-kick took a slight deflection off Kasai Hinds' head on its way in, stunning the partisan fans into silence.
But with a minute to go in normal time, the speedy Johnson latched onto a Jameel Thompson through pass and calmly slotted home for his third goal of the season. Harbour View, with their fourth loss of the season, remain on 54 points, just five ahead of Waterhouse, which defeated Arnett Gardens 3-2.
THIRD POSITION
Former champions Tivoli Gardens stayed in third position with 38 points, the same as Portmore United.
Winning coach, Glendon "Admiral" Bailey said his team is finally getting all the players together and it is paying dividends.
"As you can see we are improving where the injury department is. As I have been saying whole season long with the lack of availability of players, but we have been doing some work and it is paying off," he said.
"Even if we cannot win the competition, we are a team that people look up to so we have to play for some pride."
Meanwhile, Donovan Hayles, coach of leaders Harbour View, was pleased with his team's performance under the wet conditions.
"I still laud my team seeing that under the conditions and we are playing away from home.
"I think it was a very good game as both teams played exciting football. I must laud Jermaine Johnson's goal. I think it is the Goal of the Season so far and a 1-1 draw would have been a fair result," he added.
GOALSHEET
TIVOLI GARDENS 2
Jermaine Johnson 45, 89th
HARBOUR VIEW 1
Desmond Breakenridge 45th
