Arnett Gardens safe, Lions roar! - ... DPL relegation fight heightens

Richard Bryan, Gleaner Writer

Humble Lion stayed the hand of relegation - at least for another week, when they defeated St Georges 2-0 at Effortville yesterday, as the Digicel Premier League relegation dog fight continued.

With title aspirants Tivoli Gardens and Boys' Town not bowing into action until later today against Harbour View and Waterhouse respectively, the cellar-dwellars took centre stage.

The already-relegated Benfica sealed their shameful exit with an embarrassing 12-0 loss at the hands of Arnett Gardens, who ensured their safety in their encounter at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex, while Reno also held on with an important 3-1 victory over Sporting Central Academy (SCA), who now find themselves in a spot of bother.

SCA (46 points) will face St George's (45) in their final encounter, both teams fully aware that the Lions (34) will be breathing down their necks with an almost guaranteed three points for their taking, in their finale with Benfica.

In yesterday's other game, Village United crushed Portmore United by 5-1 in the lone match featuring top six teams.

At Effortville, winning coach Lennie Hyde Sr believes his team stands a good chance of surviving the dreaded drop but reminded everyone that things are far from safe for the Clarendon-based team.

'We still have one more chance'

"We're still not out, and we still have one more chance, but we must win," he said as he summed up the situation facing his team.

Woolery Wolfe gave the Clarendon team the crucial breakthrough in the 15th minute while captain Omando McCloud made the three points safe producing a powerful header from a Kevin Lamey cross in time added on.

The win lifted Humble Lion to 43 points,still two points adrift of St Georges, 45. With one game left to complete the 2010/11 season, neither is safe and must win their final game to evade relegation.

There is no other option for Lions as a loss or draw will seal their fate as was the scenario facing them yesterday. They were far more aggressive and penetrative in the first half where most of the game's chances were created.

Losing coach Geoffrey Maxwell felt here was where they lost the game plot.

"When I looked at the body language, I felt something was wrong," he told The Gleaner. "We did not play like we're accustomed and even though we put in a better performance after the break, quite frankly, I think we lost our heads when the game got physical."