Hodges

Rivoli United's Devon Hodges' prolific goalscoring form in the Digicel Premier League continued on Wednesday when he led his team to a 2-1 win over Reno at the Spanish Town Prison Oval.

Hodges is the joint top marksman in the competition along with Tivoli Gardens' Ronald Dean. Both players have scored 18 times.

The Rivoli player had put his head in front in an earlier match on Wednesday but Dean rejoined when Tivoli clipped Boys' Town 3-2.

It was Hodges who opened the scoring for the St Catherine team two minutes into the game.

The prolific striker collected a pass on the half line and dribbled into the Reno goal area. He then beat former national custodian Aaron Lawrence to his left to put Rivoli in front.

Score sheet

This set off rapturous celebrations among the partisan, Prison Oval spectators.

Rivoli continued to pressure the struggling Reno and were duly rewarded in the 40th minute when Valentine Gardener added his name to the score sheet.

A long clearance from his goalkeeper fell on his right foot and he calmly slotted home to give Rivoli a 2-0 half-time lead.

On the resumption, Reno started to attack through Linval Wilson, Patrick Graham, Kenroy Hutchinson, Fabian Blake, and Kenardo Scott; however, they failed to score.

While they had Rivoli under some pressure they were let down by faulty finishing. The task for Reno became even harder when Omar Dallas was sent for an early shower after a savage tackle on Rivoli's Sean Coleman in the 75th minute. Six minutes later, however, they earned some consolation when Gary McIntosh netted in the 81st minute.

Reno's technical director Wendel Downswell said it was a poor first half that led to his team's defeat.

"We gave up a soft goal at the start and the team just did not recover from it," he said.

"Rivoli are just playing to keep other teams from breathing down our necks and we will be seeking all the three pointers that we can get,'' remarked Oneil Thomas, coach of Rivoli.