What could have been classified as an entertaining contest almost ended in a clash of fists as Humble Lion battled to a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Tivoli Gardens in their Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) fixture at Edward Seaga Sports Complex yesterday.

Ricardo Campbell in the 45+1 minute and Levaughn Williams in the 90th made all three points safe for the Clarendon team, after Rodico Wellington pulled Tivoli level from the penalty spot in the 56th minute.

With the win, Humble Lion remained on course for a semi-final spot as they improved their tally to 39 points in fourth position. Tivoli Gardens, on the other hand, continue to labour in the lower half of the 12-team table in 10th position on 29 points.

Both teams were tentative at the start, but Humble Lion settled first and gradually gained the ascendancy.

They had two quick looks at goal, but Kevaughn Isaacs failed to take advantage of a defensive mix-up and Gregory Lewis steered his shot into the side, netting shortly after.

As the game progressed, Tivoli gathered momentum, but the contest was still without a goal at the half-hour mark as neither team was able to orchestrate any meaningful build-up.

With the first half coming to a close, the moderate home crowd was treated to some level of entertainment, but Humble Lion’s custodian Kadeem Davis did well to deny Andre Morgan from close range.

It was a different scenario at the other end of the pitch as Andrew Vanzie’s shot from distance was parried by Davin Watkins in goal for Tivoli.

The resulting corner from Vanzie was headed in by an unmarked Campbell at the far post to make it 1-0 at the break.

Tivoli came out more purposeful at the resumption and applied consistent pressure, but was unable to breach the defence of Davis. The equaliser eventually came from the spot when Andre Morgan was pulled down inside the area by Gregory Lewis and Wellington stepped up to calmly convert.

It was end-to-end action minutes past the hour mark and both teams pulled out all the stops, but were marred by faulty shooting and poor decision-making at times.

Tempers flared in the latter stages of the encounter and a brief scuffle ensued after Williams flung his hand in the face of Morgan. However, the bust-up was quickly brought under control with the intervention of coaches and officials.

After unsettling the opponents, Humble Lion took advantage of the situation, and a quick throw allowed Williams to arrive and poke the ball past the hapless Watkins as the woes of the West Kingston-based team continued.

Another scuffle, which involved Tivoli Gardens’ Jermaine Johnson and Wellington and Humble Lion substitute Hugh Howell, followed the final whistle by referee Oshane Nation, but once again the cool heads prevailed to avoid an escalation.

In other games, the newly promoted UWI FC hammered Boys’ Town 5-1 at the UWI Mona Bowl, while former champions Portmore United and Harbour View FC played to a 1-1 score line.