Tivoli Gardens strengthened their stance for a play-off position in the shortened Jamaica Premier League (JPL) season with a 3-1 win over Harbour View FC in a lively encounter at The University of the West Indies (UWI)-Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence yesterday.

Defender Kemar Flemming fired Tivoli in front with a 29th-minute penalty before substitute Asprellia Alexander grabbed a brace in the 89th and 90+5 minutes to secure all three points.

In-form striker Oquassa Chong (59th) had earlier pulled one back for Harbour View with his fifth goal of the season.

With the win, the West Kingston team, who started the day in eighth position, provisionally jumped to fourth on nine points, same as Harbour View, who remain in third position with a slightly better goal average.

Harbour View ended with 10 players, as defender Tarick Ximinies, who was earlier cautioned in the 44th minute, picked up a second booking four minutes later and was sent for an earlier shower by referee Daneon Parchment.

Both teams showed some amount of purpose in the early exchanges as they tried to move the ball around in a bid to grab the early ascendancy.

Tivoli Gardens’ approach was to use the wide channels to good advantage in their attacking build-ups, while Harbour View took a more direct approach down the middle of the pitch.

It was one of those direct plays that almost provided Harbour View an 18th-minute lead on the counter, but Tyrese Williams’ cheeky effort over the advancing Davin Watkins on goal for Tivoli Gardens bounced just wide of the left upright.

Tivoli Gardens responded soon after but found no success at that point.

But they had some good fortune a minute to the half-hour mark when an intended cross from Flemmings struck the arm of veteran Lovell Palmer in the danger area on his way to ground.

The appeal for a penalty was initially ignored by referee Parchment, who instead signalled a corner.

However, after a brief discussion with first assistant Nicholas Anderson, Parchment was convinced and overturned the decision with a point to the penalty spot.

Flemmings stepped up and calmly slotted the 12-yard kick to the left of a diving Tafari Chambers in goal for Harbour View.

With the score unchanged at the break, it was left to Harbour View to play catch up, and that they did 14 minutes into the resumption, courtesy of the ever-reliable Chong.

The 20-year-old rifled a stinging right-footed effort past Watkins after being played through on goal by Palmer.

Tivoli responded immediately after, but some tidy defensive work by Harbour View denied Horatio Morgan a clear look at goal from deep inside the 18-yard box.

From there, it was all Tivoli Gardens as the substitutes injected some tempo to their game in the latter stages.

In the 82nd minute, Morgan dispossessed Casseam Priestley deep inside the attacking third and played a pass off to substitute Jermaine Johnson.

But the former Reggae Boy swung and missed the ball in an attempt at a one-time shot from a good position inside the 18-yard box.

The veteran player made amends a few minutes later with a telling right-sided cross that was mishandled by Chambers, allowing Alexander to fire into an empty net to make it 2-1.

And, if that wasn’t bad enough, Alexander added salt to Harbour View’s wounds when he completed a brace after a beautiful team build-up from the back opened the door for the opportunity in time added.