Nevers says Jamalco still need 'a lot of work'

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Winston Nevers, coach of defending JNA/Berger Paints Super League champions, Jamalco, says his team is progressing nicely as they head toward the the quarter-finals.

The quarters begin next week and Nevers made his assessment, following his team's exciting 39-37 victory over Tivoli Gardens 'A', in their top-of-the-table showdown at the Leila Robinson on Tuesday night.

"We always have tendency to play well whenever we meet the bigger teams and from we started the Super League, we have been improving with every game and I think this was one of our best performances of the season so far," said Nevers.

"I am very pleased with how we played because we made a change in our defensive area to match up with the style of Tivoli's game and it worked for us," he pointed out.

"Our attackers also played a wonderful game because they were very patient in their build-ups and they also kept possession of the ball," Nevers noted.

Seeking eighth win

Jamalco, who are seeking their eighth straight hold on the trophy, finished atop the preliminary summit with 24 points, three ahead of Tivoli 21, while Waulgrovians and Windalco finished with 18.

However, despite his team's good showing against the league best teams, Nevers admits that they have a few things to fix.

"We still have a lot of work to do because a two-goal margin is nothing and therefore we will have to go back to the drawing and work on a few of our mistakes that we made in this game," Nevers surmised.

"We want to maintain the high standard of play that we are doing now because we still have to meet the top teams later on in the semi-finals and so we will have to be at our best to beat them again," he added.

Elaine Davis led Jamalco with 30 goals from 41 attempts in a game where both teams ended the first half locked at 19-19. Jamalco outscored Tivoli 12-6 in third period to lead 31-25, but had to who had to work overtime to stave off a tough fourth-quarter comeback by Tivoli.

Davis' captain, Marsha Murphy, sank Jamalco's other nine goals from 13 attempts.

Kasey Evering, who had a tough shooting night, was the leading scorer for Tivoli with 15 goals from 25 attempts, while Cleopatra Grant, with 11 from 15; and Jodiann Ffrench, six from 10, were the west Kingston team's other scorers.