Tivoli Gardens and Vere United battled to a 0-0 draw in their Jamaica Premier League (JPL) quarter-finals first-leg encounter at the Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Saturday afternoon (September 18).

Both teams failed to get on the scoresheet and will have all to play for in the second-leg on Wednesday when a winner will have to be decided. Extra-time and penalties will be used, should the teams fail to break the deadlock at the end of 90 minutes of regular time.

The format of the league allows the top two teams after the completion of the preliminary stage, direct passage to the semi-finals. Waterhouse won the preliminary stage with Cavalier finishing second and both are sitting out the two weeks of quarter-finals action.

Tivoli Gardens finished the preliminary stage fourth in the points standings and are battling fifth-placed Vere to progress to the semi-finals where they will meet the waiting Waterhouse. The other match-up in the quarter-finals pits third-placed Mount Pleasant against sixth-placed Harbour View. The latter have taken a 3-1 lead over their opponents after the first-leg.

The return-legs of the quarter-finals will be played on Wednesday also at the Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence at the University of the West Indies.

Tivoli Gardens missed a good opportunity to take the lead early in the encounter, but leading goalscorer Devroy Gray fired wide from the edge of the six-yard box. Romaine Bowers then created an anxious moment for Vere when his powerful shot from distance had to be tipped over the crossbar by goalkeeper Kadeem Davis.

In the second half, Vere also created two excellent chances. First, after an extended scramble around the Tivoli Gardens penalty box, Tyrese Harrison to the left on the six-yard box fired directly at goalkeeper Davin Watkins and then Romone Plummer, again from the six-yard box, fired over although being left unmarked.

Tivoli Gardens’ substitute Trayvon Reid, towards the end of the match, also had Vere’s goalkeeper Davis diving full stretch to his left to prevent a grounded free-kick from just outside the 18-yard box going into the goal at the foot of the upright. Reid curled the ball excellently around Vere’s defensive wall.

According to Vere United coach, Donovan Duckie, his inexperienced charges performed well against Tivoli Gardens who have won the league five times.

“I was excited with the intensity of the game. I was very surprised as I never knew that we had that in us. I have to say a lot of credit Tivoli. They have a lot of history behind them, but we did well to play with them,” Duckie said.

“They started aggressive, very fast. We took a little time to come into the game but we caught up with them. It was even until the latter stages of the second half when I thought we had a good chance to go ahead. It didn’t happen for us, but in the end, I thought 0-0 was a fair result,” Duckie continued.

“Most of these players have not played at this level before. It’s a do-or-die situation, we have the other half of the battle to go and we are mindful of what Tivoli Gardens have to offer. We were able to match them up and I think it will be an intriguing finish in the second leg and we are looking forward to it,” Duckie said. “Everything is a mindset. The stage is huge. We will eventually get there with a little bit more composure it will happen for us. If it doesn’t, well, hopefully, we will do good, even if it goes to penalty.”

Philip Williams, coach of Tivoli Gardens, was likewise pleased with the result.

“I will say that it was an exciting game. The team represents themselves well and we were able to keep a clean sheet today, which was one of the areas that we are having problems with all season. I can’t fault the guys. I think we didn’t create enough chances in the final third and decisions could have been much better, but it was a good game today for us,” Williams said.