Substitutes impact Portmore, Tivoli battle

Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

Two substitutions, one forced and one tactical, altered the course of the encounter between former champions Portmore United and Tivoli Gardens in their Digicel Premier League fixture on Sunday at the Ferdie Neita Park. The former came away 2-0 winners.

Tivoli were forced to swap right back Kemar Flemmings with Nackwayne Parchment, midway the first half, due to an injury. Portmore's most effective change came in the 54th minute when Tremaine Stewart replaced Andrew Vanzie.

In the rather enthralling game, which saw both teams trading attacks, second-half goals from Bryan Bayliss (58th) and Stewart (90⁺) were enough to see Portmore retain third place and move up to 33 points, three adrift leaders Tivoli.

"With Flemmings going down so early, it kind of threw off our game plan and really set us back," Tivoli's head coach, Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey, bemoaned.

Portmore's coach, Linval Dixon, had nothing but praises for Stewart, who had a significant impact on the second half.

"Tremaine Stewart, what a fantastic guy! He came on and he worked really hard and he topped it off with a goal and that says a lot for our team."

The goal Dixon made reference to was the second of the game, which was scored by Stewart in stoppage time. He ran on to a nicely weighted pass from captain Mario Swaby. He then shrugged off his defender, who was, coincidentally, Parchment, before rounding Tivoli's custodian Edsel Scott to fire into the empty net.

Stewart's goal came after a brilliant 58th-minute opener from Bayliss, who made a dazzling run from the halfway line before playing a quick give-and-go with Swaby and then calmly chipping over the out-rushing Scott.

Missed opportunities

Tivoli's two best scoring opportunities came in the first half, and both fell to Devon Hodges.

The first came in the 15th minute. Kwame Richardson put Hodges through on goal, but under no pressure and with the keeper at his mercy, he fired wide. Twelve minutes later, his header from a Steve Green corner came back off the right upright.

"Such is football ... . When you get opportunities, especially when you are playing against a quality team, you have to punish them," Bailey expressed. "We got the opportunities in the first half to punish them and we didn't punish them. They caught us on the counter and they put away their chances and we didn't put away ours," he added.

Dixon, on the other hand, complimented his team's continuous improvement and believed they were deserved winners.

"One of the things that we are doing, we are improving every day because we know that in order to play this league you have to step it up," Dixon pointed out. "You have to move the ball quickly and we did that today for 90 minutes. It was a good, workman-like performance from our team and a two-love victory. We can't ask for anymore," he concluded.