KINGSTON, Jamaica — Cavalier registered just the second defeat of the season to a red-hot Arnett Gardens team when they clipped them 1-0 at Sabina Park on Sunday.

The win subsequently helped Cavalier close the gap between themselves and some of the teams at the top of the Jamaica Premier League.

Fifth place Cavalier moved up to 22 points, just two behind Arnett who remain in third place on 24 points, as they started the second round with a win over the ‘Junglists’ just as they did in the first round.

Arnett Gardens dominated much of the first half as Cavalier adjusted to playing without a number of their main attacking threats who are away at camp on national duty.

“As you can see, we didn’t have Atkinson, we didn’t have Pearson, we didn’t have Webster to start, so we were a little bit short-handed, so maybe we lost a little quality in the first half,” coach Rudolph Speid said.

But despite having less possession of the ball in the first half, Speid said that Cavalier were not in fear of their opponents at any time during the game.

“We were not perturbed; we figured that we could get the better of this Arnett Gardens team. We have been playing them for a while now over a couple of seasons. They came out very hard, I thought they were very physical, but in the end, we were able to get the goods.”

Speid said that tactically, Cavalier was on point and he was happy with the team’s effort to secure all three points in the end.

“We know that they are reliant on their runners on the flanks, so we just shut them down. They are very strong on the flanks, Ajuma Johnson usually comes up and attack a lot. We just shut him down too,” he said. “We knew what they were going to do, it wasn’t a secret and in the second half we came out especially and managed to shut them down and we always thought that a goal was coming.

“Our team ran hard in the second half, we played more enterprising and then our goalkeeper came up trumps after we scored, so it’s a team effort.”

In the first round, Cavalier won as many games as they lost and were the only team not to draw a game after the first ten set of matches, but over the last four games they have been unbeaten, much to the delight of the Technical Director.

“In the first round…we were using a lot of our young players, allowing everybody to get a touch in each game, but it’s the business round now. It’s business time, so we just come and deal with business.”

“The last four games we have won three and drawn one, so we are getting some consistency. When the season just started, we won and lost, but four games now we are unbeaten, so there is some consistency coming,” Speid said.

Speid felt that his boys were manhandled by their opponents on Sunday but has promised to be ready for the physicality that his players are coming in for against the other teams.

“From here on in we are going to come hard and I think a lot of the teams are trying to stop us by being physical, but we are prepared for that too,” he said.

Cavalier’s next opponents are Waterhouse FC who they beat to win the title last season. The teams will meet at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex on Monday night starting at 7:30.