Tivoli Gardens charged into the Jamaica Premier League playoffs on the back of a brilliant hat-trick by Horatio Morgan in their 4-3 win over Humble Lion in their match at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Morgan, who was scoring for the first time this season, opened the scoring with an overhead kick in the fifth minute and followed up with a thumping header in the 30th minute. Ten minutes later, he curled a beautiful right-footer for his third.

Lorenzo Lewin pulled one back on the stroke of half-time from a corner kick then teed up Andre Clennon for an easy tap home in minute 63. However, Devroy Grey restored Tivoli Gardens’ two-goal cushion after benefitting from a poor pass by Humble Lion’s goalkeeper Keneil Petri in the 85^th minute.

It was Grey’s fourth goal of the season and he remained his club’s top scorer.

In time added on, Lewin popped up and slotted home for Humble Lion for his second goal of the match and ensured a nervous finish for Tivoli Gardens.

It was Tivoli Gardens’ fourth win from nine games which saw them jump from seventh to second spot with 16 points. They are level on points with leaders Waterhouse FC but second on goal difference.

The hapless and ageing Humble Lion remained firmly at the bottom of the 11-team league on six points following their eighth defeat from 10 games.

Tivoli Gardens will play Molynes United in their final preliminary round match next week and are fancied to secure a victory that would see them book a top-two spot and direct entry into the semi-finals.