TIVOLI Gardens kept alive their hopes of a semifinal spot with a scrappy 1-0 win over relegation-bound Wadadah yesterday at Railway Oval.

Nigerian striker, Aghenu Ifeanyichukwu, scored the lone goal in the 20th minute to give the West Kingston side three precious points which carried them to 43 and just outside the semifinal frame.

The game -- which started 26 minutes behind schedule due to the late arrival of Wadadah -- was marked, for the most part, by a bouquet of missed scoring opportunities by both teams, with Tivoli being the main culprits.

"I was very disappointed ... In the first half, we missed a lot of chances ... we got the three points we wanted but I am not happy how we got it," was the mixed view of Tivoli's coach, Mark Mendell.

From the early exchanges, it was clear that the home side's objective was to pound their struggling opponents as they wasted no time in launching raids on the Wadadah goal.

But it was a combination of excellent goalkeeping by Wadadah's Richard McCallum and faulty finishing by the Tivoli forwards that saved the Montego Bay side from a battering.

Rakeik Thomas, one of the Tivoli frontmen, had a ghastly day as he missed numerous opportunities that could have given his team victory by a punishing margin.

In one instance, Thomas, who was fed a glorious pass by the imperious Lenworth Hyde Jr, only succeeded in ploughing his point-blank range shot straight into the frame of McCallum, who was at his mercy.

Wadadah, however, had a trickle of chances, and they too failed to take advantage.

In the 30th minute, Rohan Reid found himself staring Tivoli's charismatic goalie, Edsel Scott, dead in the face, but instead of blasting the ball home, the unsuspecting midfielder froze and was robbed of the ball by a recovering Tivoli defender.

Lacon Brissett, though, was not so kind, as he peppered the hands of Scott on at least two occasions with powerhouse drives from outside the area.

But it was Ifeanyichukwu's strike that consolidated Tivoli's better posessional play and ensured the win.

Again it was Hyde's classy passing style that orchestrated the move that created the goal, which Ifeanyichukwu buried on his second attempt as his first effort was courageously blocked by a diving McCallum.

"The team has not been training and this due to problems that the club is facing ... we were out of position a lot in this game, but as a group I thought they tried to lift themselves," said losing Wadadah coach, Allan Aarons.

The loss keeps Wadadah firmly glued to the bottom of the standings with 14 points.

Tivoli Gardens -- Edsel Scott, Kasai Hinds, Victor Thompson, Christopher Jackson, Craig White, Kirk Martin, Lenworth Hyde Jr (Layton Barrett 83rd), Aghenu Ifeanyichukuwu (Darren Virtue 61st), Rafeik Thomas (Andrew Chisholm 61st), Fabian Malcolm and Orville Campbell.

Wadadah -- Richard McCallum, Dillon Thelwell, Raphael Palmer, Garnett Denton (Fitzroy Reid -- Halftime), Garfield Brown, Rohan Reid, Garth Botha, Lacon Brissett, Omar Clarke, Kirkland Smith and Nigel Reid (Floyd Scott 60th).

Referee: Courtney Campbell

Assistants: Pernel LaTouche and Michael Mitchell (FIFA)

Fourth Official: Edward Perrier

Match Commissary: Kingsley Davis

Feeding the multitude

DANGEROUS PETS

Pepper Pot