Portmore United defeated Tivoli Gardens FC 3-1 in their Jamaica Premier League (JPL) encounter at the Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence on Monday (July 19) to retake the top stop at the end of the fourth round of matches.

First-half goals by St Lucian Javick McFarlane and Demar Rose in the 36th and 38th minutes started Portmore’s victory bid, with captain Ricardo Morris completing the process in the 60th before Rodico Wellington got a consolation goal for Tivoli Gardens in the 71st.

The win enabled Portmore to climb from fourth, back to the top of the points standing after they were replaced by Harbour View during the weekend. The fourth round started with Portmore at the top.

Portmore cushions a one-point lead atop the JPL table, with Harbour View leading Vere United on goal difference as both are tied on eight points.

Cavalier on seven points and Waterhouse on five, complete the top five teams at the end of the round.

Tivoli Gardens ended the match with 10 men after goalkeeper Kewong Watkins committed his second bookable foul in the 51st minute and was sent off by referee Christopher Mason.

They remain seventh in the standing on four points.

With Portmore having the upper hand in the duel, they took the lead when McFarlane volleyed over goalkeeper Watkins into the goal from just inside the 18-yard box, close to the right of the arc. He benefitted from a poor clearance header by Tivoli Gardens’ defender Odean Pennycooke as the ball was set up perfectly for the shot.

Tivoli got hit again two minutes after, as Shande James sprinted to the edge of the box on the right before cutting the ball back to the unmarked and onrushing Rose, who fired past Watkins from the top of the penalty area.

Portmore continued to create good scoring opportunities and it was from one of the quick breaks that goalkeeper

Watkins fouled McFarlane for his second yellow and was sent off.

Watkins’ replacement, Eric Edwards, came out of his goal to clear a corner by Morris and misjudged the flight of the ball as it lodged into the goal for Portmore’s third goal. Tivoli Gardens pulled a goal back from a free-kick by Wellington, which got a deflection off the wall and sent Portmore’s goalkeeper Kemar Foster the wrong way.

According to Portmore’s coach Ricardo Gardner, he was pleased that they got three goals from the match and they will be working on improving the standard of play as the season progresses.

“It’s a work in progress. We continue to improve each week and it’s good to see we get a couple of goals and at the other end we would have loved to go on and keep a clean sheet, but unfortunately, we have to be a bit more professional about our performances and not get tired of the good habits,” he said.

“We just want to continue to grow and improve our game each week and continue to get better at what we do regularly,” Gardner added.

Tivoli Gardens’ coach Philip Williams believes that his players failed to carry out the mandate that was orchestrated before .

“We weren’t marking and tracking in the middle as to how had planned, wanted and trained and I think that’s where we lost the game. If we look at the goals, they came from turnover in some key areas while we were in transition and that definitely hurt us,” Williams explained.

“Playing against a good team such as Portmore and going a man down, the game got a lot harder than how it was at the start, but I think the 10 men played well, they managed the time well and did some damage control,” Williams said.

Meanwhile, on Sunday at the same venue, Vere defeated Humble Lion 3-1, and Molynes United and Mount Pleasant Football Academy battled to a 2-2 draw.

Vere got the victory through a brace from Ricardo Messam in the 27th and 57th minutes and a goal two minutes into second-half added time. Andrew Vanzie had cancelled Messam’s first goal with a strike from the penalty spot in the 37th.

In the other match, Nicholas Nelson gave Molynes the lead in the fourth minute with Kesslon Hall equalising for Mount Pleasant in the 47th minute as the latter went ahead three minutes after through Liston James. Sergeni Frankson scored the equaliser for Molynes in the 87th minute.