Tivoli shine in season opener

Tivoli Gardens turned in a smooth and polished performance to outclass Humble Lion 3-0 in their opening match of the Jamaica Premier League competition at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex yesterday.

Veteran Levaughn Williams (15th), Ajuma Johnson (41st) and substitute Demari Deacon (90th) were the goalscorers for the Andrew Price-coached Tivoli Gardens.

Price said he was delighted with his team’s performance, but noted that they should have scored a lot more goals in the match.

“I think we played well, we had a lot of possession territorially, and the only thing I think we could improve on was our finishing. We weren’t clinical in front of goal and we probably should have won by a wider margin,” said Price.

“I guess it is first-game jitters, because coming back and playing in front of a large crowd at home, the players wanted to do well, and so I guess a bit of nervousness crept in,” he said.

“I believe that they gave a good shift today, they played well and they followed the instructions. The important thing is that we want to turn the Edward Seaga Complex into a fortress where teams come here and don’t get anything. We want all three points whenever we play at home,” Price added.

Davion Meggo, head coach of Humble Lion, said his team will definitely learn a lot from this defeat.

“The positives are that the players have gotten some experience from this game, and so they know what the league is like going forward,” said Meggo.

“It will only get tougher from here, and so we will have to be ready,” he said.

Tivoli Gardens began the match confidently as they dominated the early exchanges. They took the lead when Williams pounced on a loose ball inside the 18-yard box and fired home past the Humble Lion goalkeeper.

Humble Lion, who were promoted back to the Premier League, could not contain the pace of the Tivoli wingers, who ran circles around their defenders in the final third.

In fact, the Clarendon-based team failed to muster a shot on goal in the first 40 minutes before Johnson doubled Tivoli Gardens’ lead when he fired home from close range as the hosts took a 2-0 lead at half-time.

Deacon, who came onto the field midway the second half, wrapped up the victory for Tivoli Gardens on the stroke of full time with a powerful left-footed shot which went like a rocket past the goalkeeper, much to the delight of the home fans.

Yesterday’s Results

Cavalier 2-1 Dunbeholden

Tru Juice 4-0 Mount Pleasant Academy

Montego Bay 2-0 Chapelton Maroons

Tivoli Gardens 3-0 Humble Lion

Today’s Matches

5:05 p.m. Molynes United vs Treasure Beach

8 p.m. Racing United vs Arnett Gardens

Both matches will be played at Stadium East