Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
TIVOLI GARDENS fought tooth and nail to eventually battle their way to a 2-0 victory over a very resilient Reno team as action in the Wray and Nephew-sponsored National Premier League continued yesterday at the Edward Seaga Stadium.
For Tivoli Gardens, strikers Nicholas McCreath and substi-tute Roland Dean would prove to be the heroes.
Throughout a goalless first half and for most of the second Reno had defended stoutly. But that was just half of the story. Tivoli Gardens just could not seem to find the back of the net no matter how easy the opportunities they were presen-ted with.
MAIN CULPRIT
The main culprit was midfielder Jermaine Taylor who had several attempts in both the first and second halves saved, or simply missed glaring opportunities to put the ball into the back of the net.
It would take bravery from Dean to finally push his team ahead of Reno in the 73rd minute. Dean flung himself into a header, beating Reno custodian Kingsley James to a bouncing 50-50 ball. He was flattened for his effort, but the ball bounced into the back of the net, finally bringing relief to the Tivoli faithfuls on hand.
Despite being a goal down Reno were not out of it and got a glorious opportunity to equalise through substitute Martin Williams just six minutes later. Williams, who had done little wrong after coming onto the pitch, found himself with an opportunity to head his side level but from an unmarked position in front of goal, he headed high and wide of the target.
The busy McCreath would deservedly put the game away for the home team two minutes from time. He took a well-weighted through ball in stride before curling it around James to seal the victory for his team.
"I think we played well today. We showed a lot of heart, character and guts than anything else today," said Tivoli's coach Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey.
"I think in the first half we were unfortunate not to get a few early goals, but we were being impatient. In the second half we kept the intensity, showed patience and it paid off," he added.
Despite the loss, acting Reno coach Aaron Lawrence was pleased with his team's performance.
"I think we did well overall. We could have come away with a point or even a victory but we missed our opportunities. But we will go back to the drawing board and try to improve from this," he said.
SCOREBOARD
Tivoli 2
Roland Dean 73rd, Nicholas McCreath 88th
Reno 0
