Dunbeholden grab late winner against struggling Tivoli

DWIGHT MERRICK’S injury-time winner against a struggling Tivoli Gardens helped Dunbeholden Football Club climb to seventh place in the tightly contested Jamaica Premier League yesterday.

The 2-1 victory at the Dunbeholden Sports Complex came on the back of the home side’s struggles as well.

Dunbeholden had not earned a point from their last two encounters and went in search of goals early in the contest, Shakeen Powell latching on to a mishandled save from Tivoli custodian Nicholas Clarke in the ninth minute. Tivoli’s Justin Dunn came close to getting the equaliser in the 20th minute but could only watch as his close-range effort skewed over the bar.

Five minutes before the half-time interval, Tivoli Gardens would level the scoreline through Lennox Russell who found space at the far post to easily convert on the back of a counterattack.

In the second half, chances were few and far between, though Dunbeholden’s Chevoy Watkin could have slapped himself for putting an effort wide after finding himself unmarked at the far post.

In added time, Dunbeholden’s Merrick was gifted a chance as Clarke, again, failed to handle a ball inside his box, spilling it onto the boots of the attacker.

Byjeon Thomas, head coach of Dunbeholden, said his team showed they wanted to get a positive result from the game.

“I’m very happy with the display. While Tivoli might have had the better of us in the first half, we regrouped and you could see in the second half that we wanted to at least get something out of this game. It’s way too early to talk about placings, but we’re focused on getting points on the board and then see how high we can finish,” he explained.

Jerome Waite, head coach of Tivoli Gardens, said the defeat, his side’s fifth in 10 games, felt like ‘heartbreak’.

“This is more than disappointing, it’s heartbreak. At this level, you can’t have goalkeepers making that error, and this really puts a damper on the team going forward. The sad part is how we’re conceding goals, and this is something I’ll look at and see how best I can make changes.”

orane.buchanan@gleanerjm.com