Cavalier Football Club registered a fourth win on the trot and, more importantly, moved closer to a top two position, after they blanked a lacklustre Arnett Gardens 3-0 in a lopsided rescheduled Wray and Nephew Jamaica Premier League (WNJPL) contest at Sabina Park on Sunday.

Captain Kyle Ming (9th), Dwayne ‘Busy’ Atkinson (21st) and Shaneil Thomas (90+1), shared the goals, as the Rudolph Speid-coached team extended their unbeaten run across five matches –the last four with a clean sheet intact.

The win, Cavalier’s seventh of the season, propelled them into fourth position on 24 points, same as third-placed Tivoli Gardens, who has a slightly better goal difference.

Arnett Gardens, who ended the contest with 10 players after Roshawn Amos straight red card in the 80th, are also on 24 points, but were relegated to fifth position as the margin of defeat dented their goal difference.

Having addressed their previous defensive issues, Speid expressed pleasure with his team’s current vein of form.

“I remember we went 10 matches without a clean sheet (across competitions), we worked on it, and it is now paying dividends.

“We saw some things that we could exploit, so we changed the system and decided that ‘Parko Blacks’ [Fabian Reid] was going to have to play the hardest game of his life and it worked for us,” Speid said in a post-game interview.

“Another thing we are working on is making it difficult for opponents to pinpoint where the goals are coming from which is a good thing from our point of view. But we remember, we had it hard early in the season, so we are just getting back some of the players and the commitment, and I think that is what is now carrying us through,” he added.

Cavalier started spiritedly, as they wasted little time to impose their will on the game, which placed Arnett Gardens in an uncomfortable situation to play catch up.

Atkinson, who is one of a few players returning from overseas stints, proved menacing to the ‘Junglists’ defence, as he was involved in two of the goals.

The diminutive winger first floated in a weighted corner kick which eluded defenders and fell kindly for Ming, who easily headed past Asher Hutchinson, in goal for Arnett Gardens.

Atkinson, who was in Iceland, then displayed immense composure when he fired past Hutchinson at his near post, after a well-worked one-two combination with Dwayne Allen.

Orlando Russell, another player returning from overseas, should have extended Cavalier’s lead five minutes later when he went on the break and dismissed a lone defender, but his left-footed effort was kept out by Hutchinson.

In the 39th minute, Atkinson served up another weighted cross inside, this time an unmarked Russell at the far post, but he went for the spectacular and the chance went begging.

Arnett Gardens best chance of the half came on the stroke of the break when Warner Brown got behind defenders, but couldn’t beat Jeadine white, who left his line well.

The Xavier Gilbert-coached Arnett Gardens looked more purposeful on the resumption and created a few half chances, which they failed to make count.

That allowed Cavalier to get back into rhythm and it took Hutchinson diving full stretch to his right, to deny substitute Jalmaro Calvin’s 66th-minute effort.

Rushike Kelson went close for Arnett Gardens in the 72nd, as his well-taken free kick from the top of the arc rendered a five-man wall useless, but the effort couldn’t beat the right upright.

With Arnett playing a man short after Amos’s dismissal, Thomas capitalised on their poor defending, as he waltzed his way into the final third to fire past the hapless Hutchinson and cap the win.

Gilbert was left disappointed by his team’s dismal display.

“We were very flat; I don’t think we provided what we should have provided to cause problems to the Cavalier team. I think we were too narrow when we were in possession of the ball and they hit us in transition a couple of times, and we just didn’t execute so credit must be given to Cavalier for the way they executed,” Gilbert said.

Sunday’s results

Cavalier 3, Arnett Gardens 2

Harbour View 2, Treasure Beach FC 0

 

Chelsea midfielder Omari Hutchinson is one of five English-based players that were, on Tuesday, named in the Reggae Boyz squad for two friendlies against Trinidad & Tobago to be held on the 11th and 14th of March in Montego Bay.

The 19-year-old, who spent seven years at Arsenal before moving to Chelsea last year, played his first game for the Reggae Boyz in an unofficial 0-6 friendly loss to Catalonia in May 2022.

The other four England-based players in the squad are Tyler Roberts (Wolves), Dexter Lembikisa (Wolves), Delano McCoy-Splatt (Fulham) and Dante Cassanova (Tottenham Hotspur).

Also selected in the squad for the first time is 17-year-old Kingston College standout Dujuan “Whisper” Richards who was recently on trial at Premier League outfit Newcastle United.

The full squad is as follows: Tyler Roberts (Wolves), Collin Anderson (Cavalier), Trivante Stewart (Mt. Pleasant), Dujuan Richards (Phoenix Academy), Jourdain Fletcher (NEROCA), Lamar Walker (Portmore United), Demario Phillips (Mt. Pleasant), Delano McCoy-Splatt (Fulham), Ravel Morrison (DC United), Dante Cassanova (Tottenham Hotspur), Alwayne Harvey (Mt. Pleasant), Jahshaun Anglin (Harbour View), Omari Hutchinson (Chelsea FC), Dwayne Atkinson (Cavalier), Dexter Lembikisa (Wolves), Ricardo Thomas (Dunbeholden), Jamoi Topey (Mt. Pleasant), Richard King (Cavalier), Fitzroy Cummings (Vere United), Adrian Mariappa (Unattached), Sue-Lae McCalla (Mt. Pleasant), Oshane Staple (Harbour View), Jamali Waite (Pittsburgh Riverhounds), Kemar Foster (Waterhouse), Asher Hutchinson (Arnett Gardens)

A stunning goal and a beautiful assist by 19-year-old Dwayne “Busy” Atkinson gave a youthful Cavalier FC a deserved  2-0 win over an ageing Humble Lion team in the feature encounter at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence on Saturday.

The lively Atkinson, who came on as a 46th-minute substitute, fired a dipping shot from 25 metres that whistled past a bewildered Dennis Taylor in goal for Humble Lion in the 77th minute.

It was a beautiful goal deserving to be the first of this new season from a  player, who Head Coach Rudolph Speid said was arguably the best player in the country when he was just 15-years-old.

Then in time added on in the 90+2, Atkinson latched onto a ball at the halfway line and in one motion with the outside of his right foot, curled a beautiful through ball into the path of fellow substitute Courtney Allen, who rounded the goalkeeper and slotted home.

It was three very good points for a spritely and youthful Cavalier team with an average age of 20 years and they have thrown down the gauntlet that they will be contenders.

The Clarendon-based Humble Lion unbelievably averaging 32 years, was left stunned by the young guns with some early soul searching needed as to the make-up of their ageing squad.

Man-of-the-Match Atkinson, formerly of Kingston College, said he will be hoping to keep the legacy going set by the former young guns of Cavalier who are now playing overseas.

Meanwhile winning coach Everdean Scarlett, was not surprised by Cavalier’s energy.

“My team gave a good performance of themselves and in the end, it was youthful exuberance that prevailed,” noted Scarlett.

Losing coach Andrew Price said his ageing men could not respond to the more energetic younger Cavalier boys. “We had about 14 training sessions and definitely this Cavalier team has been training long before us and they are a much fitter and younger bunch,” Price pointed out.

“Fatigue set in and we had to make some substitutions but it’s a learning curve. The mind is saying they can do thing but their body won’t allow  them,” said Price

“In the second half Cavalier really turn on the burners on us. But it’s the first game so I won’t mark them too hard,” he added.

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