Tivoli, P'more draw

Andre Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

Seven games have passed since Tivoli Gardens last defeated Portmore United in league action, and that streak continued yesterday as the west Kingston-based team was held to a 1-1 draw in Digicel Premier League third round play at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex.

That last win came back in April of 2009 and 2-0 was the result. But it was never going to be that sort of evening for Tivoli Gardens, despite the fact that Portmore United played a man short for a full hour after Tremaine Stewart's 30th-minute red card for a high boot on Kemar Flemmings.

Truth be told, neither team deserved to win this one, with little enterprise and direction being displayed from both sets of players.

As far as league position is concerned, Tivoli Gardens remained in the lead with 52 points, while Portmore United moved to 47 points and kept third place, one adrift of Boys' Town.

The game actually got off to an interesting start after Tivoli's Roland Dean was brought down in the penalty box after just three minutes on the clock.

However, Christopher Jackson could not convert from the spot as Portmore United goalkeeper Garice McPherson got a hand to the effort to force it on to the left upright.

Both teams then jostled for scraps in what became an untidy midfield battle, with Stewart's ejection highlighting a sleepy first half.

Better second period

Things picked up in the second period as both teams started to explore their options with more creativity.

It didn't take long for Tivoli's Navion Boyd to make the most of a defensive howler from national player Adrian Reid, who underplayed a pass to McPherson, which allowed Boyd to sneak in and place a shot around the goalkeeper in the 51st minute to hand his team the lead.

What followed was a masterful piece of beauty. The Tivoli Gardens fans had barely stopped celebrating when Portmore United striker, Steven Morrissey, left his marker for dead with a silky turn before weaving his way through a forest of Tivoli Gardens defenders and placing an unstoppable shot into the top right-hand corner of the goal.

Tivoli Gardens were themselves reduced to 10 men in minute 71 when Damion Gordon was shown a second yellow card for a strong challenge on Morrissey, as the game petered out to a quiet end.

"Playing against Portmore is always competitive but we are disappointed with the result, even though we are happy to have maintained our lead in the league," said Alvin Shaw, Tivoli's assistant coach.

"To be honest, I think we lost the focus after Portmore went down to 10 men, I think it had to do with the way we were marking, it sort of threw off our game," Shaw added.

Portmore United's coach, Linval Dixon, said: "It (ejection) proved the character of my team, they plugged in and played really hard. We came here in a tough environment and fought and I'll gladly take this one point away from home."