Cavalier FC threw their hat into the ring, to be considered favourites for the Red Stripe Premier League title, when they clipped Waterhouse FC 1-0 at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex on Monday night.

Both Cavalier and Waterhouse are now level on 48 points, but Waterhouse remain in second spot on goal difference. Portmore United continue to lead the league on 53 points.

The win for Cavalier came courtesy of a first-half strike from the red-hot Nicholas Hamilton, who turned in yet another good performance for the television cameras.

Blessed with speed, creativity, cunning and guile, the young upstarts who are guided by Rudolph Speid produced another head-turning performance.

Waterhouse leading scorer Tremaine Stewart was the first player to get a shot on target in the game, but his early effort bore no real threat for Mark Bryan who handled easily in the Cavalier goal.

At the other end, Kaheem Parris was allowed to run all of 20 yards with the ball before firing off a grounder that Diego Haughton did well to get a hand to, diving low to his right to parry to safety.

Stephen Williams then went on a mazy run on the byline, slipping by two defenders before blasting the ball over the crossbar from a very acute angle when the better option was to cross to a better-positioned teammate.

Haughton was called upon again for Waterhouse when Gadial Irving tried a snap shot at the near post that forced the Waterhouse custodian into a quick reflex save, to keep the score level at 0-0.

Williams then had an opportunity to atone for his earlier mistake when Ricardo Thomas picked him out from the left, but the winger headed the ball into the ground and over the goal with Bryan at his mercy.

Whilst Williams was busy missing two good chances in a row, Hamilton would take his first of the evening. Receiving the ball from Irving on the left side of the field, the Cavalier striker tricked his way past two defenders before slotting the ball beyond Haughton to make it 1-0 in the 22nd minute.

A Mark Miller free kick from deep tested Bryan shortly before the half-time interval, but the Cavalier custodian punched the ball clear inside a packed 18-yard box.

Four minutes after the restart Waterhouse should have been level. A perfectly weighted cross from Thomas on the left picked out a fast-arriving Stewart, who headed the ball wide of the target from about six yards. It was the player that Waterhouse would have wanted to be at the end of the cross, but somehow Stewart failed to hit the target.

Cavalier captain Chevone Marsh stole the ball off his opposite number, Keithy Simpson, and started a quick counter-attack, playing in Hamilton before getting on the end of the cross — but his deft flick rolled across the face of goal and into touch.

The Waterhouse skipper tried to make up for his error when he got on to the end of a corner kick at the near post, but his header was inches wide of the goal.

Both teams continued to create chances but somehow there were no further goals in the game.

Hamilton got a chance to kill off the game in the final minute of play when Cavalier had a two-on-one situation, but his pass to substitute Nicholas Nelson took the player away from goal and the opportunity was lost.

The final whistle signalled the end of the regular season matchups between the two teams, with Cavalier getting the lion’s share of the points having bagged all of seven, as they closed the gap on their opponents to just goal difference.

— Dwayne Richards