Rivoli United's goalscorer Fidel Anderson (right) is hounded by Omar Dallas of Reno during the Digicel Premier League football game at Frome on Sunday. Rivoli won 2-1. - photo by Dalton Laing

FRONT-RUNNING Portmore United and second-place Harbour View suffered defeat in Sunday's Digicel Premier League (DPL) action.

Portmore United, who lead the standings with 63 points, went down 2-0 to Tivoli Gardens at Edward Seaga Sports Complex.

Navion Boyd put Tivoli ahead on the quarter-hour mark and central defender Adrien Mitchell, in an attempt to make a clearance as he came under pressure while facing his own goal, saw his kick go horribly wrong as the ball looped high over the advancing goalkeeper and fell into the unprotected goal, to double the lead in the 38th minute.

But Harbour View, who hosted Clarendon's Sporting Central Academy at Harbour View Mini Stadium, squandered a glorious opportunity to close the four-point deficit as they suffered an unexpected backyard loss, 1-0 to the team lying fourth from bottom.

The youthful Clarendon team frustrated the Stars of the East throughout the match and got the game-winner on the stroke of the interval, when Alanzo Adlam's free kick fell perfectly for Jermaine Christian to put the ball in the back of the net.

Fairly sizeable lead

Third-place Boys' Town and Tivoli Gardens, at fourth, put a dent into the fairly sizeable lead held by the front duo, clipping off three points with their success.

Boys' Town, with first-half goals from George Vernal (14th) and Wayne Ellis (43rd), blanked Waterhouse 2-0 at Collie Smith Drive to move within nine points of the leaders.

At the start of the season, the Red Brigade's coach, Andrew Price, touted his team as one with a clear mission to win the title.

With two more matches to complete this third round and five to come in the fourth against the league's elite, that still seems pretty distant.

Surrendered

Price, however, has not lost hope.

"It has been done before, so it can happen again," Price said, as he reminded The Gleaner of the 2006 season in which Harbour View surrendered a 13-point lead down the stretch and were overtaken by Waterhouse.

In other results Sunday, Rivoli fuelled their push for a top-six placing with a 2-1 away win over Reno at Frome that enhanced Reno's relegation prospects. The other candidate that looks certain for the drop, Village United of Trelawny, picked up another dagger at home Sunday when Keammar Daley scored in the last minute to hand the team they are most likely to catch, Meadhaven, a 2-1 win at Elliston Wakeland Centre.

Standings