Boys' Town close gap... lead cut to three with three games left to play

Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

The 2010/2011 Digicel Premier League title race is fascinatingly poised with just three rounds of games to be played, as Boys' Town yesterday closed the gap on leaders Tivoli Gardens to three points, following a 2-1 win over Village United at Collie Smith Drive.

Leaders Tivoli Gardens could only manage a point away to 10-man Portmore United, after being held to a nil-all stalemate in their contest at Ferdie Neita Park, to move to 65 points, while goals from captain Michael Campbell (36th) and Jamiel Hardware (65th) were enough to lift the Red Brigade to 62 points.

Aldain Grant netted for the Villagers in the 63rd minute, as both teams finished with 10 players following the ejection of Village United's Ronaldo Rodney (71st) and Boys' Town's Oneil 'Bigga' Thompson (78th); both for serious foul play.

Yesterday's results have set the stage for a grand finale, as both title aspirants are down to come face to face with each other in the final round of fixtures at Tivoli Gardens' Edward Seaga Sports Complex backyard, on May 1.

Interestingly, in addition to their last-round trip to Tivoli Gardens, Boys' Town's other two league encounters will also be on the road against Portmore United and Waterhouse, respectively, while the four-time champions will host Waterhouse before playing away to Harbour View, before welcoming Boys' Town, who have not lifted the national league title since 1989.

maximum points

Boys' Town's coach, Andrew Price, is cognisant of how important it is for his team to gain maximum points from all their remaining encounters.

"At least we are eating into the lead," Price said in relation to Tivoli's result. "We just have to continue taking care of business and if they (Tivoli) happen to make slip- ups, we must make use of that opportunity, so all we have to do is continue winning our games."

Boys' Town could have come away much more comfortable winners had they capitalised on the opportunities they created in the opening 15 minutes. Daemon Benjamin was allowed two unchallenged headers from inside the Village United area; the first of which he failed to keep down, while the other struck the left upright.

The hosts, however, got the go-ahead goal in the 36th minute when Campbell netted from the penalty spot after Village United's captain, Orlando Mcbayne, was adjudged to have intentionally handled a waist-high square by Romondo Johnson.

Village pulled level in the 63rd minute, after a careless pass by Boys' Town's Renae Lloyd resulted in a counter-attacking move, which saw Dino Williams outsprint Wayne Ellis before slipping a pass to Grant, who fired home.

home-team win

The home team was not to be denied, however, and took only two minutes to find the winner, when the impressive Hardware neatly collected a pass from Xavian Virgo before slamming a shot past the helpless Village United custodian, Keith Hamilton.

Gregory Palmer, coach of Village United was pleased with team's effort despite the loss.

"We came here with an objective not to lose the game, as we are still fighting to see if we can come fourth. We didn't achieve our object, but it was a spirited performance by the team," Palmer expressed.

In other results, Rohan Reid fired Arnett Gardens to a crucial win over Humble Lion at Effortville in their relegation dogfight, popping up in added-on time to secure a vital 1-0 win for the Junglists.

At Drax Hall, visitors Sporting Central got an important 1-0 victory over their hosts Benfica, courtesy of a 54th minute Hughan Gray strike.

• Boys' Town 2 - Village 1
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• Portmore United 0 - Tivoli Gardens 0
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• Humble Lion 0- Arnett Gardens 1
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• Benfica 0- Sporting 1
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• St Georges 2- Reno 0
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• Waterhouse 0- Harbour View 1