CLARENDON PARK, Clarendon — Romeo Parkes scored twice on debut as defending champions Tivoli Gardens snapped their four-game losing streak with a workman-like 2-0 victory over Sporting Central Academy yesterday at Brancourt.

Neither team offered much in a drab first half and were reduced to mere half-chances.

Tivoli would, however, improve after the restart but had to wait until the last nine minutes for Parkes to volley them into the lead.

The beanpole striker then sealed a much sought-after victory for his new side with a glancing header late in stoppage time.

Truth be told, Parkes, a former Highgate and St Georges frontman, was having a miserable time in front of goal as he failed to get any of his previous five shots on target.

He will, however, be the recipient of much plaudit from his Tivoli teammates as his late but clinical finishes will no doubt ease the pressure on a team in need of a victory by any means necessary to stop what was shaping out to be a major crisis.

While they remain at least nine points behind leaders Portmore United, the win will restore some amount of belief among the players that they can still go onto to retain the Red Stripe Premier League title.

The West Kingston side has now leapfrogged Sporting up the league table on 26 points and could finish the day in third, should the other teams around them fail to win.

Sporting, on the contrary, represent a side fading fast and are badly in need of motivation if they are to ever rediscover their first-round form.

Vassell Reynolds’s side — who were without five regular starters yesterday — have failed to register a win at home since the start of the second round and are winless in their last four games.

Like Tivoli, they started the game showing next to no sign of a team needing a victory as they laboured in midfield for much of the first half without carving out any real goalscoring opportunities.

On the other hand, the visitors were more disciplined and eventually got their reward when new acquisition Parkes fired them ahead with a well-struck left-footed volley after 81 minutes.

That goal came immediately after former Tivoli player Owen Gordon muffed an easy one-on-one chance to give Sporting a 1-0 lead.

And any chance the Clarendon side had of snatching a late draw went up in smoke as the unmarked Parkes, who was stretchered off at the final whistle, popped up to complete his brace and a priceless win for Tivoli with a point-blank header.