Back where we belong – Edwards
AFTER BEATING UWI FC 2-0 to move back into the top six of the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) at the UWI Mona Bowl yesterday, Tivoli Gardens coach Omar Edwards, said they are back where they belong in the table. The west Kingston club ended a five-match winless run thanks to goals from Junior McGregor (53rd) and Tkevin Garnett (90+2) to leapfrog their opponent in the standings. Tivoli climbed one place to sixth with 25 points, while UWI slipped one spot to seventh on 24 points.
"It's important to finish the year on a high," Edwards said. "Coming to UWI and scoring two good goals and keeping a clean sheet is added motivation going into the New Year. But also, we are now back in the top six, and we are pleased to be back in this position. We are a team that is accustomed to being in first, second or third, and that is what we are aiming for. So, we are happy to be back in the top half."
Tivoli controlled the game from the early minutes and created the better chances, but Andre Moulton and the team's leading scorer, Colorado Murray, both missed good opportunities to put the visitors ahead.
After the break, Murray missed another sitter after goalkeeper George Brown blocked McGregor's free kick and the ball fell kindly to him, but Brown made and excellent double save to stop Tivoli from taking the lead. However, McGregor broke the deadlock eight minutes after the interval when he made space for himself before firing past Brown.
WASTED CHANCES
UWI came into their own late in the match, but Stephen Barnett and Davion Garrison both wasted easy chances to equalise. Moments later, Tivoli broke away down the right and Garnett cut inside his marker, before firing a low shot past Brown to make it 2-0. "Faulty shooting caused us not to add to our score but give credit to UWI.
Despite, us having won the game, they pushed us all the way for 90 minutes, so it was a tough game, but the team defended stoutly. And, as we move forward, we want to get our players back from injury so we can have our full team in the new year," Edwards added.
UWI coach Andrew Peart thought they deserved even a point. "We got chances, but we're just not capitalising," he said.