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MBU recover to beat Tivoli
January 04, 2024
Montego Bay United (MBU) turned in an impressive second-half performance to defeat Tivoli Gardens 2-1 in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) at the Anthony Spaulding Complex yesterday.
Ahmal Nugent-Hudson and Brian Brown scored second-half goals for MBU to overturn Odean Pennycook's first-half effort.
The win was the St James-based MBU's first in four matches, and coach Neider Dos Santos contends that the changes made at halftime made the difference.
"We had a bad first half. The first half was dreadful. I don't have words to say," Dos Santos said.
"I made some changes at half time, and in the second half, we improved. We were much more composed and played a better game. Tivoli is a strong team, but in the end, we scored twice.
"The last 10 minutes, they were all over (us). We had to hold the pressure, and we did, and it's an important three points," he stated.
Tivoli showed greater initiative in the first half and, deservingly, went ahead when Pennycook stabbed home a rebound from six yards after goalkeeper William Ferreira denied Barrington Pryce from point-blank range in the 41st minute.
Ferreira then denied two great opportunities from Kimarley Smith to keep MBU from falling further behind.
However, MBU came out and took charge at the start of the second half, and they were rewarded when Nugent-Hudson broke loose and slotted under Tivoli's goalkeeper Diego Haughton for the equaliser in the 59th minute.
Tivoli dominated the next 10 minutes in a search to reclaim the lead, but they were left dumbstruck when Brown rose high above the Tivoli defence to head home a right-sided cross in the 70th minute.
Tivoli went on the assault to get the equaliser, but MBU defended well to seal only their fourth win of the season.
"When you don't put away your early chances, it will haunt you," said Tivoli's coach Jerome Waite. In the first half, we created so many opportunities but credit to their goalkeeper (Ferreira), he did well. In the second half, we eased off the pedal. It resulted in two goals."
MoBay climbed one place to ninth with 15 points, while Tivoli slipped one spot to third with 24 points, three behind Portmore and four behind leaders Mount Pleasant.
