Tivoli disrupt Vere style to secure win
Published:Sunday | August 29, 2021 | 12:07 AM
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DESPITE LAMENTING his team’s insufficient preparation time, Vere United FC’s head coach, Donovan Duckie, was not in the mood to make excuses for his team’s 1-0 defeat to Tivoli Gardens in their Jamaica Premier League football game at the UWI-JFF...
DESPITE LAMENTING his team’s insufficient preparation time, Vere United FC’s head coach, Donovan Duckie, was not in the mood to make excuses for his team’s 1-0 defeat to Tivoli Gardens in their Jamaica Premier League football game at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence yesterday.
Rushane Thompson’s sixth-minute strike was enough to extend Tivoli’s unbeaten run to five games, as well as vault them into fourth place with 13 points, with two games left in the regular season.
Vere United were playing their first game in more than two weeks as the enhanced COVID-19 restrictions pushed back their return from their scheduled bye week. While admitting the difficulties Vere United had with their preparation given the inclement weather and the three days of no movement, Duckie said that his team paid the price for a poor start.
“Our training wasn’t adequate enough, but not to take anything away from the game, I thought we definitely started the game tentatively. Tivoli wanted it more. You saw their aggression, you saw they wanted to win badly and hence that played in their favour,” Duckie said.
EARLY PRESSURE
From the opening whistle, Tivoli put the pressure on the Clarendon-based Vere United and while they managed to settle into the game, they were unable to test Tivoli Gardens goalkeeper, Kewong Watkins. The west Kingston team’s early pressure reaped rewards as Thompson was found in the penalty area and his effort soared past goalkeeper Kadeem Davis and into the net.
Tivoli Gardens’ head coach, Phillip Williams, credited his team for sticking to the game plan in making Vere United uncomfortable in their build-up play.
“We know that Vere is a very organised team and they shift from side to side very well. But where we analysed and thought that we could win the game from them was playing vertically,” Williams shared. “And that is what we did today in terms of getting a lot of the combination passes going vertical and it worked for us today.”
With two games remaining, Vere United remain top of the table with 14 points because of a better goal difference than Mount Pleasant, who are also on 14 points.
Vere United: Kadeem Davis, Ricardo Campbell, Kenroy Lumsden, Alton Lewis (Tavis Grant 87th), Trevance Salomon, Lunar Neil, Javier Brown(Tashaine Campbell 87th) , Ricardo Dennis, Romaine Plummer, Ricardo Messam (Anjay Gayle 51st), Tyrese Harrison (Gregory Cousins 64th).
Tivoli Gardens: Kewong Watkins, Barrington Pryce, Kemar Flemmings, Horatio Morgan, Shavar Campbell, Devroy Gray, Rushane Thompson (Dasha Satchwell 79th), Anthony Nelson (Trayvon Reid 66th), Tkiven Garnett, Odean Pennycooke, Romaine Bowers (Jermaine Johnson 58th).
Referee: Veralton Nembhard
Assistants: Jassett Kerr, Ojay Duhaney
Fourth Official: Andrew Hayden