TIVOLI Gardens FC thrashed hosts August Town FC 5-1 at the UWI Mona Bowl yesterday as Round Two got underway in the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL).

Shavar Campbell struck in the 16th and 44th minutes for a first-half brace, while an own-goal in the 57th and further strikes from Rohan Reid (71st) and Jamoy Sibblies (86th) completed the rout. Substitute Larone Russell got the consolation for a sloppy-looking August Town football team in the third minute of time added on.

The recently promoted August Town, after a promising start to the campaign, appeared uninspired both in attack and defence, and gave Tivoli Gardens too much space to dominate midfield. To compound matters, August Town’s Jeffrey Grant was red-carded after being cautioned a second time in the 72nd minute.

Their fourth win of the season moved Tivoli Gardens into provisional third place overall on 18 points from 12 matches. The Glendon ‘Admiral’ Bailey-coached squad was fifth at the end of Round One. The hosts were suffering their fifth loss since their return to the top flight.

They remain second to last in the 12-team standings on 11 points. Veteran coach Bradley Stewart, who was appointed close to the end of the first round, was openly displeased with his team’s showing. “This is really disgraceful,” he told reporters. “We drew away to Montego Bay United most recently, and to be at home and lose to Tivoli like this… we need to do some soul searching.”

At his team’s inability to play compact football, particularly after Grant saw red, Stewart said “not enough leadership and communication” was present on the pitch.

Bailey was satisfied that Tivoli Gardens took full advantage by keeping possession when they needed to and exploding into menacing attacking forays when August Town pushed forward and lost the ball.

“It was a very good performance from the players. We were tactically very good today and we created many chances. Even in defence we were good.”

“We spent time doing some work and we spoke to the players [ahead of the match] and it showed. They knew they had to pull up their socks and the display today was positive,” Bailey said.