Below par TG thrashed 3-1 by Portmore

Tivoli Gardens coach, Phillip Williams, says poor individual quality during yesterday's Jamaica Premier League (JPL) match significantly contributed to his team's below par display in their 3-1 loss to Portmore United at the UWI/Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence.

Williams said they were far below their best in most aspects of their game, although he thought they did well to limit the defeat to just a two-goal margin after goalkeeper Kewong Watkins was red-carded after picking up a second yellow card in the 53rd minute of the game.

"It (defeat) was a combination of things. We were being caught in possession and we were turning over the ball in key areas, which cost us the game," he said.

"After going down to 10 men we did real well in terms of damage control and even pulled back a goal late in the game. However, our pass completion was bad, we turned over the ball too many times. The goals that Portmore scored came after we turned over the ball and they caught us in transition. So our pass completion and ball possession are two areas we have to work on," Williams said.

The defeat was Tivoli's first in three games and Williams hopes to put the defeat behind them, pick up the pieces and rediscover their best form as soon as possible.

"This is our first loss of the season and we cannot dwell on this. We have other games to come we just need to focus on our opponents, come with a plan, train well and execute on the day. It (Tivoli) is a team in transition and they need to learn from this and keep themselves up and focus on the games to come," he said.

Portmore's head coach, Ricardo Gardner, was impressed with the manner in which they brushed aside their latest opponents and said that it's important that his players focus on getting better each week.

"Football is 90 minutes and we don't want to get bored of the good habits that we continue to develop and improve on each week. We want to continue to build on our last game. But it's a work in progress. It is a positive result and a positive performance from the group and the players enjoyed it today and we want them to continue enjoy their game," he said.

Portmore dominated the first hour of the contest and got their goals from St Lucian Javick McFarlane (36th), Demar Rose (38th) and Ricardo Morris (60th).

However, despite playing a man short, Tivoli fought back towards the end and pulled a goal back through Rodrico Wellington who scored from a deflected free kick in the 72nd minute of play.

Portmore lead the JPL points table with nine points from four games, while Tivoli are seventh with four points from three games.