Inspired second half sees Cavalier Drax Hall rebound
Published:Sunday | March 27, 2022 | 12:13 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
BEFORE YOU could blink, Tivoli Gardens surrendered the slim advantage they entered half-time with against Cavalier. Before Tivoli could compose themselves to mount a response, the game was already beyond their reach.
A second-half blitz from Cavalier with goals 10 minutes apart fuelled a 3-1 come-from-behind win over Tivoli Gardens in their Jamaica Premier League game at Drax Hall, St Ann, yesterday afternoon.
A Kyle Ming own goal gave Tivoli the lead in the 31st minute but Collin Anderson got the equaliser a minute into the second half, while goals from captain Jeovanni Laing in the 56th and Kenroy Campbell in the 67th completed the turnaround against a team that they have had the better of recently. The win was a boost for the defending champions as they complete round one in the play-off places in fifth place with 19 points.
After a timid first half, Cavalier assistant coach David Laylor said that a reorganising of tactics was needed to display their aggressiveness, a mentality change that paid off from the start of the second half.
“We just had to refocus them. We didn’t have a good first half display, so we went in and fixed it. We came out running and the instructions were to press them,” Laylor said.
That blistering second-half start left Tivoli reeling. A delivery into the box somehow managed to find Anderson who tapped home from close range to level proceedings with their first attacking sequence.
Ten minutes later, Tivoli were behind as a poor clearance led to the ball being put on a platter for Laing, who made no mistake from six yards.
The turnaround was made emphatic as Shaniel Thomas managed to find Campbell, who unleashed a thumping drive into the roof of the net. It was a win that extended Cavalier’s unbeaten run against Tivoli to five games dating back to February 17, 2020, a streak that Laylor is very aware of.
“We selected a team this week specifically for this Tivoli team and it worked out for us. It didn’t work in the first half but it did pan out in the second half,” Laylor said.
INEFFECTIVE IN ATTACK
Tivoli head coach Philip Williams not only lamented the defensive lapses that led to the goals, but how ineffective his team was in attack.
“Apart from the third goal, which was a beauty, I think the other two were unforced errors and problems that we caused on ourselves. At this stage, it is unacceptable for us as a team,” Williams said.
“I think that is the thing that has been plaguing us all season in terms of our decision-making in the final third. Yes, Cavalier scored three goals but we could have made it a little tighter.”
The Vere United Montego Bay game, which was originally scheduled to be the first game of the double-header was moved to the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence.
In the bottom-of-the-table clash, it was Vere United that ended their four-match winless run with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Alton Lewis in the 45+2 minute.