When Maverley-Hughenden travelled to the Edward Seaga Sports Complex to face home team Tivoli Gardens last Sunday, there were mixed reactions from the fans, who might have thought it was just a fiery inter-squad match.

Maverley-Hughenden’s Head Coach Anthony Patrick inserted six former Tivoli Gardens’ players in the starting line-up in a strategic move to nullify the home team.

Patrick handed starting roles to veteran Kasai Hinds in midfield, Robert Williams, Roberto Fletcher, Rodico Wellington, Jamoy Sibbles and Nicholas Scott — all former Tivoli Gardens players.

“That’s something when you in this league, you have to really look and assess all the teams when you going up against them and see where we can hit them,” Patrick told the Jamaica Observer.

Patrick’s plan was working up to the end of the normal 90 minutes. But a late strike by Elton Thompson led Tivoli Gardens to a 1-0 win.

In what was a bruising contest, the tone was set early as several players got into a brawl in the seventh minute. Surprisingly, only Tevin Shaw of Tivoli Gardens and Robert Williams of Maverley were booked.

“It was a very good tactical game. When you look at how both teams played, we didn’t give up a lot of area in the middle. When you look at the middle of the park, it wasn’t a very good game from both teams — ball swinging from end to end,” Patrick noted.

“We wanted to get Tivoli out of their rhythm from very early to get the supporters to yell at them and throw them off their game,” he explained.

On the flip side, it was a crucial psychological home win for the Omar Edwards-coached Tivoli Gardens, who watched their six-game winning streak come to an end before the holiday break.

“It was a physical encounter. One of the reasons for that is you have a number of players on the Maverley team that used to play for the Tivoli team. So we anticipated that it was going to be this tough,” said Edwards.

“But we have used the break to improve our defensive network, and in the game, we have seen where the entire team defended stoutly, which is a plus going forward,” Edwards added.

Tivoli Gardens, who have won their seventh match in their last eight games, are second on 35 points, just three behind leaders Montego Bay United and three ahead of both The University of the West Indies (UWI) and Portmore United on 32 points.

Maverley slipped a spot to eighth, with 20 points, but still hold a five-point advantage above the relegation zone and are also just five points away from a play-off spot.