Dean

TIVOLI GARDENS' assistant coach, Max Straw, says the 5-0 defeat that St Georges suffered at the hands of Harbour View on Wednesday made the Portland side a tougher opponent in Sunday's Digicel Premier League game at the Edward Seaga Stadium.

"We always thought that the score last week was going to make it more difficult for us," Straw told The Gleaner following an agonising 0-0 draw with the Portland visitors.

St Georges had again journeyed into the Corporate Area donning Christmas colours of red and white, but the Portland outfit were never in Santa mode.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game and for the whole week we were focused on trying to prevent them from scoring. That 5-0 was painful, and the team was determined to put it behind us," St Georges midfielder Richard Orrett said.

Created chances

Tivoli Gardens' fans had filed into the stadium urging their team to flood Georges and send them home.

The home team created several goalscoring chances, but lacked the potency and composure in front of goal.

The combination of Roland Dean and Navion Boyd often wiggled their way into the penalty box but their shooting boots were off.

Similarly, Orane Simpson, Steve Green and Christopher Jackson often found themselves in great shooting positions, but failed to properly test Anthoniel Williams in the St Georges goal.

Denied penalty

Many Tivoli hearts might have come to mouths when a Denroy Dennis shot eluded goalkeeper Edsel Scott and crashed on to the crossbar deep in the second half.

Tivoli, though, felt they were denied a penalty when referee Kevin Thomas waved on play after Dean appeared to have been pulled down in the box by Rupert Murray.

As the clock ticked away and it became clear Tivoli was without a goal in the bag, screaming fans begged for the slightest of chances to be converted.

Among them was club president Edward Seaga.

"Some body take a shot ... any shot," Seaga said from his touchline seat.

His voice was barely strong enough to carry to the field, but the note may have got to the ear of substitute Jermaine Taylor, who, seconds from the whistle, unleashed a rasping drive which Daininan Reid charged down.

Reid went down for the count as the ball ricochet out of the ground.

However, he was only taking one for the team as not long after, Thomas signalled the end.

Despite the vociferous shouts of disapproval from home fans, Straw said Tivoli did not take St Georges for granted.

"We expected a very tough fight today and they gave us that," Straw said.

With the draw, Tivoli inched up to 28 points and remain firmly in second behind leaders Harbour View, who have 32 points. Georges maintain fifth place with 23 points.