Spanish Town:

After beating Arnett Gardens 1-0 in their Digicel Premier League match at Spanish Town Prison Oval on Sunday, Rivoli coach Donald Edwards saluted a number of his players for ensuring maximum points.

Rivoli played with 10 men from the 73rd minute, when Dwayne Hunter was ejected for a second bookable offence.

"We played well today," said Edwards. "However, I would want to give respect to the defence, especially the goalkeeper, and also to Hodges (Devon) for scoring. This just gives us the strength to work harder in the second round."

The match, which was played under wet conditions, produced its only goal at the eighth minute when Hodges received a pass and headed home, making it 1-0.

Despite several attempts from Arnett Gardens' Horace Sharpe, Desmond Breakenridge, Gerald Neil and Cornel Chin-Sue, they could not pull their team level and the first half ended 1-0.

FAULTY FINISHES

On the resumption, Arnett Gardens started to play more purposefully with the introduction of player-coach, Fabian Davis.

However, faulty finishes, coupled with good defending by Omar Parker, Derrick Planter, Barrington Planter, Ricardo Knight and Hodges, who also defended stoutly, prevented changes in the score.

Arnett, it appeared, were not destined to score as after goalkeeper Leighton Murray brought down Chin-Sue in the penalty box, their entire aggregation watched in agony as Sharpe kicked the penalty kick wide of the goal in the final minute.

This set off a hasty exit from the ground by their supporters, as the referee had blown the final whistle to confirm a result which left Arnett Gardens on 11 points and Rivoli United on 10.

"We did not put away our chances and Rivoli turned up today. They played well, respect to them. We definitely have work to do."

STANDINGS

(Tabulate under Teams, Play, Win, Draw, Lose, Goals For, Goals Against, Points)