TG awake angry Lions in Flow Cup
EFFORTVILLE, Clarendon — With both teams recording big 4-1 victories in the Digicel Premier League (DPL) on Sunday, the second-round Flow Champions Cup match-up between last year’s beaten finalists Tivoli Gardens and Humble Lion at Effortville yesterday was expected to be a cracker — and it was.
From the opening whistle, both teams entertained the partisan crowd with aggressive, but good passing football.
However, with the game being a knock-out encounter, there could only be one winner, and that’s where the hunger of the Humble Lion team got the better of a misfiring Tivoli unit.
The DPL debutants took advantage of some lax defending from Tivoli at the death of both halves to book their place in the quarter-finals with a deserved 2-0 win.
Kimroy Davis in the 42nd minute from the penalty spot and Omando McLeod in the 90th handed Humble Lion their first victory in four meetings this season over the DPL champions.
Tivoli won the previous encounters, 3-2, 2-0 and 2-0.
After the game, Christopher Bender heaped praises on his players. “Congratulations to the team, they carried out the instructions well this evening,” he gushed.
“… Our confidence, concentration and discipline were very good (and), I’m not surprised about beating Tivoli. We played them three times… their offensive unit is very good, and once we can contain their (attackers) over a period of time we knew would always have a chance,” Bender added.
Both teams created a number of chances in the first 35 minutes, but good goalkeeping kept the scores level until the 42nd when Davis slotted home from the spot to send his team into the break with a 1-0 advantage after Victor Thompson fouled Narado Brown in the box.
Tivoli restarted with a clear aim to attack, but it cost them dearly as from one such move, McLeod caught them napping.
The big striker got a telling pass on the counter just inside Tivoli’s half and got the better of his marker in a foot race, before kicking past Edsel Scott for his third goal in two matches.