Tivoli register first win of JPL season
Published:Tuesday | September 9, 2025 | 12:11 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
TIVOLI GARDENS Football Club registered their first win in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) yesterday, after a hard-fought 2-1 win over 10-man Spanish Town Police, who have lost all their matches to date, at Stadium East.
Anthony Nelson (14th minute, 45+) scored a first-half brace to put Tivoli 2-0 up at the break.
Spanish Town pulled a goal back through Anil Ferguson six minutes into the second half to give the game a more interesting finish.
However, 15 minutes from the end Spanish Town lost Shaqueem Holness to a second bookable offence.
Tivoli coach Jerome Waite said their objective was to get their first three points of the season, but admitted that Spanish Town made it very difficult.
“Playing a team of this magnitude was not going to be easy. It’s a team that came up to the top flight for the first time and they came and did their endeavour best. In the end, we had a difficult game but we still came out victors.
“When you are up against a team that enters the Premier League for the first time, you know it will be difficult to play them. What they are accustomed to is the next level. This is a different level of ball game. But it was not easy for the Tivoli team to maintain what I asked them to do and apply themselves. Today was our off day,” said Waite.
Both teams went for it from the opening whistle, and Tivoli, who had the better chances throughout the game, duly went ahead after just 14 minutes, thanks to Nelson’s strike.
The Jerome Waite-coached team then wasted good chances to increase their lead, but got a second goal on the stroke of half-time, when a hand ball was called on a Spanish Town Police defender in the box, and Nelson converted the spot kick.
However, Spanish Town Police got back into the game early in the second half when Ferguson outjumped the Tivoli defence to head home a free kick in the 56th minute.
Tivoli had a couple of good opportunities to restore their two-goal margin, but continued to be wasteful.
Spanish Town Police were reduced to 10 players in the 76th minute when midfielder Holness picked up his second yellow of the match.
Despite going a man down, Tivoli had to keep on their toes to see out the game.
Spanish Town Police assistant coach William Spencer said they are always improving and believes their first win of the season will come soon.
“It’s a new environment, new things we are learning. We are playing better with every game. We just have not gotten the win as yet, but I am sure we are going to win some games.
“We made two mistakes and they got two goals. But in my opinion, I think we played better than Tivoli did. But such is football. We will take our loss and move to the next game,” he said.