TIVOLI Gardens kept their nose ahead of the menacing pursuit of Boys’ Town as the Digicel Premier League (DPL) leaders maintained their three-point lead over their nearest rivals with a 1-0 win over Waterhouse FC at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex on Wednesday.

Tivoli, with a constant look over their shoulders as the DPL makes the turn for home, moved to 68 points with the midweek win, while Boys’ Town stayed in touch with a 2-1 victory over Portmore United at Ferdie Neita Park to jump to 65 points.

In the two-horse race for Jamaica’s most prestigious football trophy, it appears the eventual winner of the points-driven league format could go down to the wire with two more games remaining and six points up for grabs.

At the other end of the two-tier final round, St Ann’s Benfica appeared set to lose their relegation dogfight when they went down 0-1 to Reno — a result which all but sealed their fate.

They are at the bottom of the standings with a mere 37 points. Bunched with them in the drop zone are Humble Lion in 11th spot on 40 points and St George’s SC in 10th with 42.

At the Edward Seaga Sports Complex, the home side was fortunate to escape with maximum bounty, as its rendition against Waterhouse could best be described as a comedy of errors, especially on the offensive front.

Former national striker Roland Dean was a shadow of his best form as he spurned a handful of goal-scoring opportunities.

In the 34th minute, after being cleverly fed from midfield by national representative Keammar Daley, Dean watched his puny effort blocked by Waterhouse goalkeeper Richard McCallum.

Again in the 42nd, Dean’s inexplicably missed the target from point-blank range after being showed the way by Navion Boyd, who himself was not at his sharpest.

Boyd, also a Jamaica player, redeemed himself when he got the winner for Tivoli in the 53rd. He finished off a cheeky headed flick-on which originated from a right side throw-in into the area.

But before he finally found the target, Boyd had a glorious opportunity a minute earlier when he kicked wide from inside the box, with McCallum at his mercy.

Waterhouse, who are long out of the championship race, offered little in terms of offensive enterprise and relied on their one-man attacking force of Andre Clennon, who was largely ineffective, though he occasionally got a helping hand from Weston Forrest.

The Drewsland-based outfit went down to 10 players in the 55th after Jamaica’s Under-20 player Jason Watson was sent off by referee Raymond Bogle for striking.

Teams:

Tivoli Gardens — Edsel Scott, Christopher Jackson, Marco McDonald, Damion Gordon, Kemar Flemmings, Raymond Williamson, Jameel Thompson (Shawn McKoy 67th), Nackwayne Parchment (Kevin Blackford (88th), Keammar Daley, Roland Dean (Owen Powell 67th), Navion Boyd.

Subs not used: L Gordon, V Thompson, J Walters, V Gardener.

Booked: None

Waterhouse — Richard McCallum, Weston Forrest, Keneil Moodie (Theo Brown 80th), Andre Clennon, Akeem Thenstead (Nico Wright 69th), Jason Watson, Kemar Rodney (Peter Keyes 45th), Rohan Amos, Adain Simpson, Kernardo Forbes, Stephen Williams.

Subs not used: J Fletcher, N Edwards, J Plinkett, R Brown

Booked: Watson (Red-carded 55th)

Referee: Raymond Bogle

Assistant Referees: Garnet Page, Lloyd Edwards

Fourth Official: Calvin Banton

Match Commissary: Charles Barrett