Tivoli reverse Mount Pleasant curse, defeat last of the unbeatens

FOR THE past three years, Tivoli Gardens have been winless against Mount Pleasant in their Jamaica Premier League (JPL) encounters. Not anymore.

The West Kingston club, reversed their jinx and stopped the last undefeated team in the league in their tracks, with a 3-1 win in their JPL game at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence yesterday.

A brace by Stephen Barnett in the 65th and 73rd minutes, as well as a strike from Davion Ferguson in the 14th minute, helped Tivoli to move to sixth in the table. Mount Pleasant’s Devonte Campbell opened the scoring in the eighth minute.

While a win against the current league leaders would normally be seen as a statement of intent, Tivoli technical director Glendon ‘Admiral’ Bailey was more focused on how well his team performed.

“It’s a good win. I’m not going to say that it is a statement win, because we (were facing) a quality team and teams have their bad days at times. Maybe we were lucky to catch them on that day. I’m just saying that we played well today, both offensively and defensively, and we really played well tactically,” Bailey said.

Tivoli not only ended Mount Pleasant’s seven-game unbeaten run in the league but reversed their own fortunes against the St Ann-based club, with their first victory over Mount Pleasant in their history. And, although the significance was not lost on him, Bailey said that they are focused on the challenges ahead, with the belief that they can reach the level of the top teams.

“This is a big booster but we have a lot more games to play. Beating Mount Pleasant is not winning the title but it is a good booster for us to make us know that we can compete,” Bailey said.

For Mount Pleasant interim head coach Walter Downes, while acknowledging that no strong start can last forever, he says that his team will need to mount the appropriate response after being dissatisfied with their physicality and their sharpness.

PHYSICAL LEVELS NOT IDEAL

“I think our passing was a little bit off today. We didn’t move the ball quickly enough. I’m not sure that our physical levels were there as well. We are normally brighter and sharper than that,” Downes said.

“We can’t win every game. The thing with an unbeaten run is that the one thing for sure is that at some stage you are going to lose that unbeaten run. The important thing is how we react to that.”

While Mount Pleasant are still atop the league with 17 points, you have to go to number of goals scored to break a tie between themselves and Waterhouse, who have an identical +11 goal difference. Waterhouse closed the three-point gap between the teams at the start of today’s games with a 2-0 win over Harbour View.

First-half goals from Andre Fletcher in the fourth minute and Cardell Benbow, from the penalty spot in the 24th minute, allowed them to benefit from Mount Pleasant’s slip. Waterhouse assistant coach Damion Gordon praised the performance of his goalkeeper Kemar Foster, who kept Harbour View at bay to prevent any chances of a Harbour View comeback.

“He is one of the best in the league. Kudos to him. He had an excellent game today. I think we defended a little bit better today (yesterday) than (last week),” Gordon said.

Daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com