Cavalier secured the first victory of the Jamaica Premier League season on Saturday (June 26) when they defeated Humble Lion 2-0 at Captain Burrell Centre of Excellence at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona campus.

Substitute Dwayne ‘Busy’ Atkinson opened the scoring for Cavalier in the 77th minute with another substitute Courtney Allen netting two minutes into second-half added time. The victory allowed Cavalier to take the early lead in the point standings on the first day of the season.

Earlier in the afternoon, Mount Pleasant Football Academy and Tivoli Gardens got the season underway with a 0-0 draw at the same venue.

Cavalier are on three points with Tivoli and Mount Pleasant on one point each.

Humble Lion ended the match with 10 players as Andrew Vanzie received a second yellow card from referee Odette Hamilton and was sent to the showers four minutes into second-half added time after he was booked in the 80th minute.

Vanzie’s teammates Remeo Wright in the 71st minute and Mark Rodney in the 58th were also booked, as well as Cavalier’s Kamoy Simpson in the 21st and Gadial Irving in the 44th.

Cavalier got the better opportunities from the start of the match until substitute Atkinson scored from just outside the penalty area with a powerful shot over goalkeeper Dennis Taylor. Atkinson then provided an excellent through pass for

Allen to latch on to and score Cavalier’s second goal.

According to coach Everdean Scarlett, Cavalier’s plan worked well. He said they wanted to test Humble Lion in the first-half then attack them with speed and quickness in the second half as the Cavalier players are fitter and younger.

“I think my team gave a good performance. We know we are always going to have the beat on Humble Lion because we have some youthful players, who are excited and ready to play and we always know that in the end, youthful exuberance will tell and that just proved itself today,” Scarlett said.

“Dwayne Atkinson is one of our better players in the position that he came and played, but he is just coming off an injury and we decided that we weren’t going to start him today. We were just going to let him watch the game and gradually come on and take charge of the game,” he added.

“In the first half we came out and we just wanted to possess the ball, see what Humble Lion have and at half-time, we went inside and we realised that we are younger than them, fitter than them, so we decided to just come out second half and put the burning on them,” coach Scarlett concluded.

Andrew Price, coach of Humble Lion blamed rustiness for the defeat but believed that his players performed well enough to show that they can improve during the season.

“We had about 14 training sessions and Cavalier have been training long before us so they are a much fitter and younger bunch and we really wilted in the second half. Fatigue set in and we had to make some substitution because of cramping,” Price said.

“It is all about a learning curve and we are going to have to just play ourselves into condition and play ourselves into form, but for the period of time we were out there, I saw some good things that I can build on and some encouraging things.

“We moved around the ball a lot and we got some opportunities in the first half but we were unable to capitalise and then in the second half Cavaliers really turned on the burners on us with the fitter players,” Price stated.

In the first match, neither team was able to break the deadlock with Mount Pleasant getting the better opportunities to score, but lacked the deadly touch in front of goal to place the ball into the back of the net.

Mount Pleasant’s coach Paul ‘Tegat’ Davis bemoaned the missed opportunities but was happy to earn at least a point from the match.

“It was up and down. I believe we had this Tivoli team on the back foot, but we were moving the ball too slowly. They looked a bit tired and if we were moving the ball faster, I think we would have gotten the better of them today,” Davis said.

“This is football and when we get simple chances like those, we should have taken at least one. We got maybe six, seven eight chances today. This Tivoli team got none because they were flat, but then we gave them time to play.
“When we catch teams playing like that we need to move the football faster. This is football, we would have loved the three points but what can I say, it’s a part of the game so the one point is good. It could have been worse,” Davis, a former national striker said.

Tivoli Gardens’ coach, Philip Williams, said the team will be looking to blend youth and experienced players for a positive result at the end of the season. He said he started the match without the full complement of players because of injuries.

“Today we were short in terms of personnel, we only came with 17 players today because we have a lot of injuries.
The squad is pretty deep, it’s full of youth, but definitely, we have players who are there that have the experience to lead them. We are going to put them together and hopefully, we will have a nice blend that can represent the club well,” Williams said.