'We're now on the doorstep to re-enter Premier League'

• Rivoli coach basks in glory as team tops South Central Confed

Richard Bryan, Gleaner Writer

Rivoli secured their grand opportunity to get back to the nation's highest football league, the Digicel Premier League (DPL), when they stormed from behind to beat parish mates Meadows 3-1 in the South Central Confed Super League final at Prison Oval on Sunday.

The South Central Confed final winners automatically enter the DPL play-offs that begin on Sunday.

Rivoli, which have had two previous Premier League stints, now join Western Confed champions Seba, KSAFA champions August Town and the Eastern Confed champions in a round-robin bid to claim two qualification spots to next season.

The defeat for Meadows was a bitter pill to swallow, as they had scored first on Sunday, they had not lost a game at the Confed level in two years, and they had also badly messed up the campaign to qualify for the DPL after being poised early in the playoffs last year.

The man of the moment was, however, coach Calvert Fitzgerald, who has coached top- flight teams Waterhouse, Tivoli Gardens and August Town.

"It's not about my personal ambition, but we needed to win," he told The Gleaner.

"I'm very happy that we won the game because we are now on the doorstep to re-enter the Premier League, so we just have to approach the (playoffs) in a positive manner, continue to play disciplined football, and I'm sure once we follow those steps we will be successful."

fiery game

Typical of their only league game, which ended 1-1, Sunday's contest was fiery throughout, but Fitzgerald was, however, conciliatory to the defending champions.

"We lost our game that we were supposed to lose in the preliminary round to Monymusk; and Meadows did not know how to lose, so when we went up 2-1 they just could not respond," Fitzgerald reasoned.

Both sides were almost equal early on, with Meadows marginally ahead through ball possession. Meadows opened the lead in the 18th minute after Dane Planter delivered a free-kick which fell to Linton Lambert, whose shot across the goal was tapped in by Devon Francis at the back post.

Derrick Planter equalised from a free kick in the 28th minute. The shot was fairly decent, but the heavily stacked Meadows wall made it too difficult for their custodian, Bernard Scott, to react to the ball as it was curled over.

The equaliser boosted Rivoli's play and they went further ahead on the hour mark.

They went up 2-1 when Scott commited two cardinal mistakes - first showing poor judgement by allowing a ball to bounce inside his area, and then being much too hesitant to react to a seemingly innocuous shot from Anthony Greenland.

He, however, had no answer approximately 10 minutes later when Luke Soares produced probably one of the best goals of the season - a left-footed volley that flew low into the corner of the goal.