Howard Walker, Staff Reporter

A sublime backheel by Christopher Nicholas sent Nicholas McCreath on his way to scoring an 85th minute goal as Tivoli Gardens edged Seba United 1-0 in their Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) game at the Edward Seaga Stadium yesterday.

Both Nicholas and McCreath, along with Oraine Simpson, came off the bench to inspire a lacklustre Tivoli team. Nicholas collected a ball midway Seba's half and with a defender sticking to him like glue, he found space to back-heel the ball into the path of McCreath who sped away and calmly slotted home.

Tivoli Gardens, with their seventh win of the season, remain mid-table on 26 points.

Maximum points

Winning coach Calvin Fitzgerald thought his team deserved maximum points although not finding their rhythm as yet. Said Fitzgerald: "From we had the one-month break we haven't really found back our rhythm as yet. It was a hard-fought game. Seba came and played a very good game but we played just the better and a 1-0 result is a justified one."

With the game seemingly headed for a tame draw, Fitzgerald went to his bench for the winner and duly got it. He brought on Oraine Simpson for Dwight Heron, Nicholas for Jermaine Taylor and McCreath for Derrick Planter.

"I wanted a goal and I didn't know where I was going to get one from, so I brought on two forwards and a midfielder and it paid off because one of the forwards scored. But the key to it is that we have to play good defence so we don't have to continue outscoring teams," explained Fitzgerald.