Jamaica Gleaner
Published: Tuesday | December 15, 2009
Home : Sport
Lions roar in Rivoli den
SPANISH TOWN:

Humble Lions stormed into Spanish Town Prison Oval for a Digicel Premier League match against Rivoli United and left with a mighty roar, leaving the homesters stunned by a 1-2 loss.

From the very outset the visitors took the fight to their more seasoned campaigners with Rohan Williams Kevin Mighty, Zico Herrera and former Rivoli player, Errol Wilkie, stringing passes together in midfield and working themselves into good shooting positions, only to be denied a goal by faulty finishing.

Though it took some time, Rivoli gradually came into their own with Devon Hodges, Valentine Gardener and Kirk Ramsey making in-roads through the Humble Lions defence.

Based on the run of play though, the visiting fans were more fervent in their support, chanting "Humble Lion, Humble Lion" as the team from Farm in Clarendon continued to dominate proceedings.

However, both teams were down to 10 men in quick succession. In the 45th minute Humble Lions' Tyrone Lampart was ejected for a second bookable offence; and in the 47th, Fabion Gordon of Rivoli was ejected. Having received a yellow card, he made some utterances and referee Karl Tyrell sent him early to the showers.

Crowd silenced

At the start of the second half the Clarendon-based team were forced to defend with Rivoli stringing many passes together.

Against the run of play though, the Lions silenced Rivoli's supporters in the 53rd minute when Omar Walters scored to make it 1-0.

The lead was short-lived as a minute later Hodges came to the rescue of his team with a brilliant solo run, which ended with his ferocious right-foot shot that scored and made it 1-1.

The visitors, led by Walters, responded well and dominated for long periods, during which they put their opponents under constant pressure which eventually paid off when Herrera blasted in a 25-yard effort to make it 2-1 for Humble Lion in the 68th minute.

"What we did in training is starting to now manifest itself in the results," said Christopher Bender, the Humble Lions coach. "But it is a long season for us, therefore more is needed."

Meanwhile Bradley Stewart, Rivoli's technical defender, said: "If you defend as a team then half the work is done. However, if you do otherwise results will always be against you."

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