Tivoli Gardens jumped to the top of the Digicel Premier League (DPL) after blanking Humble Lions 2-0 at Effortville Community Centre yesterday.

Goals by Navion Boyd in the 27th and Owen Powell in the 43rd minutes earned Tivoli their first win in six league outings dating back to October 25.

The Lenworth Hyde-coach TG climbed two places from third to first with 30 points, just one ahead of Harbour View and St Georges, on 29 points each.

Harbour View, who started the day in second spot, could only earn a point after being held to a goalless draw by Sporting Central in another rescheduled game at Brancourt.

Hyde, was just happy for the points and hoped the long overdue win will inspire his team further.

Said Hyde: “We were in a spot and it was good to bounce back with a victory and I hope this momentum can carry us into the next game.”

He added: “We will be playing at home and I hope this will do good for the team and lift the spirits. We have been playing well, but was just not winning. We bounced out of it and did well today.”

Meanwhile Humble Lions, who were suffering their fourth home defeat and their seventh overall, remain in 11th spot in the 12-team league despite playing fairly well throughout.

“On another day maybe we could have scored three goals. The effort was there but we could not score the goals this afternoon,” said coach Christopher Bender.

Despite only winning once at home and twice overall, Bender remains optimistic that things will turn a round.

“If we were creating the chances then I would be frustrated. But we are creating… our conversion rate needs to improve and if we can get that, the team will be in good stead,” he argued.

In front of a relatively small crowd, by their standards, at “Farm”, Humble Lions came out full of running against the champions and should have taken an early lead.

Narado Brown found space in the box, but saw his hard, low shot well gathered by goalkeeper Julian McLeish in the eight minute.

Veteran Wilkie in midfield, along with Brown, Kevin Mighty, Damion Barrett and Zico Herrera, had Tivoli on the backfoot for the first 15 minutes.

But like true champions, Tivoli reacted and hit back hard. Captain Boyd burst through the heart of Humble Lions defence with a beautiful change of pace to toe-punch home from just inside the box in the 26th.

Barrett responded well for the home team with a long-range effort which sailed over the crossbar.

Then the towering Owen Powell doubled Tivoli’s advantage in the 43rd after playing a lovely one-two with Jameeel Thompson, again splitting opening the Humble Lions defence before side-footing home.

With the urgings of their home fans, Humble Lions continued to press but just could find that goal which would have brought them back in the game.

When referee Courtney Campbell blew the final whistle, it left Humble Lions’ chairman Mike Henry with a lot to think about ahead of the January transfer window.

For his opposing chairman, Edward Seaga, it was three well-needed points to kick-start the title holders’ second round and three points which put them back were they belong.