Arnett Gardens came from a goal down to beat Molynes United 2-1 and draw level on points with the leaders of the Jamaica Premier League, while Vere United and Humble Lions played out a 0-0 draw on Sunday.

In the feature game at the UWI/JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence, high-riding Arnett Gardens had to dig deep to secure the win over the struggling Molynes United team, after going down 0-1 courtesy of an own goal scored by Gerald Neil in the 40th minute.

Nicholas Nelson was fed in by his brother Jermy who dissected the Arnett team with a precise pass from deep and the striker ghosted into the box before firing a ferocious shot on target which hit the base of the post, ricocheted unto the foot of Neil, before crashing into the back of the net.

It was a fortuitous goal for Molynes United, but they were good value for their lead-up to that point in the match.

Two minutes later Renaldo Cephas came close to scoring, but his shot rebounded off the crossbar while he held his head in anguish.

Cephas came close again moments before half-time when he was given the time and space to line up a shot and fire on target with his left foot, but man-of-the-match Peter Harrison tipped over for a corner kick.

Arnett came out on the front foot in the second half as they went in search of an equaliser which came from the boot of their leading scorer, Cephas in the 74th minute. The winger converted from the penalty spot, powering his shot into the far corner, despite Harrison getting a left hand to the ball.

With the momentum in their favour and the allure of joining Mount Pleasant FA and Waterhouse on 17 points, Arnett increased the pressure on their opponents. Despite some fantastic saves from Harrison, including a world-class, acrobatic save to deny Rushike Kelson from point-blank range, the Junglists were not to be denied as Kimani Arbouine scored from unmissable range to make it 2-1 in the 89th minute.

The top three in the league are now separated by goal difference only, as things get tight at the top with the first round of the competition draws to a close in three weeks.

For Molynes United it was yet another heartbreaking late goal loss which sees them remain on four points and in 11th place.

In the first game of the day, the Clarendon derby had everything except goals as Vere and Humble Lion found goals to be at a premium.

Humble Lions would have considered themselves unlucky as they lost their captain and leading scorer Andrew Vanzie to injury after only seven minutes, forcing them into personnel changes from very early.

It was a physical encounter between the two teams as they battled for both pride and bragging rights.

The experienced Xavian Virgo picked up a yellow card in the 9th minute of the first half, which would come back to haunt him when he was sent off for a second yellow card in the 54th minute after committing a professional foul to deny Ramone Plummer a path to goal.

Forced to play with 10 men for the remaining minutes of the game, Humble Lions defended valiantly and created a few half chances of their own, but neither team created any outstanding goal chances of their own as the game petered out to a draw with Vere unable to make their numerical advantage count.

The result was not favourable for either team as both remain in the bottom half of the table. Vere United edged up to seven points while Humble Lions go up to six with three games remaining in the first round.