SCORES: TIVOLI 2, DUNBEHOLDEN 0

It has been a dizzying, nervous and exciting start in top-flight football for teenager Nickalia Fuller, who is coming of age amongst the proverbial big boys.

Less than a month ago, the 18-year-old first paraded his skills in a Tivoli Gardens kit, and about six games into his budding senior career, Fuller has already established himself as the go-to man for head coach Jermaine “Teddy” Johnson.

Such was the case in his latest outing on Wednesday, as he scored a goal and assisted another in leading the West Kingston team to a 2-0 win over Dunbeholden FC in their Lynk Cup first-leg quarter-final encounter at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.

Fuller played provider for Tommy Lawrence to give Tivoli Gardens a 40th-minute lead and later returned to help himself to a 63rd-minute strike that capped the win.

He may not have been the youngest to achieve such a feat, but in any case, Fuller’s Man-of-the-Match performance was remarkable in its own right and he has earned the respect of his coach — a former Reggae Boy stalwart — and others.

“It is great that I was able to get a goal and an assist to give my team a good advantage going into the next leg. I always aim to play a key role in a game’s outcome. Obviously, things won’t always go as you like but today (Wednesday) it did for me and my team,” Fuller told the Jamaica Observer.

Though no stranger to the spotlight, as he was one of Excelsior High’s standout players during the schoolboy football season, Fuller is simply trying to calm his nerves and remain focused on putting his best foot forward for Tivoli for the remainder of the Jamaica Premier League and, particularly, in this knockout competition. Tivoli is currently 12th in the league standings on 19 points.

“It’s a good feeling to show my talent and I am happy that I have the opportunity to continue my development here at Tivoli. I am confident in my abilities but still, I just want to come out here each time, enjoy myself and learn as much as possible, keep putting in the work and see where it takes me from here,” Fuller said.

“The team is in a better position in the Lynk Cup than in the Premier League. We have no chance of making the [Premier League] play-off, so we have to put our best food forward in this competition and as you can see it is so far so good. We just have to go back to training and keep working on what we need to, to finish the job,” the nippy player added.

Dunbeholden dominated possession and had the better of chances first up, both coming in the 21st and 37th minutes through the usually clinical Peter McGregor.

McGregor first had a glorious effort stopped on the line by a defender and later dismissed the well-advanced Kewong Watkins, in goal for Tivoli but somehow shot wide of an empty net.

Fuller then combined with Lawrence to put Tivoli ahead against the run of play as the latter slipped his marker and held his composure to fire home from just inside the 18-yard box under pressure.

Both teams showed good attacking intent on the resumption but it was Tivoli that found favour in the final third courtesy of some sloppy defending from Dunbeholden which allowed Fuller a clear path to goal where he made no mistakes placing a right-footer past custodian Carlos Robinson.

McGregor again came close for Dunbeholden when a firm header came back off the crossbar. And even after Tivoli lost captain Barrington Pryce in the latter stages, it mattered little in the end, as the St Catherine team couldn’t capitalise.

Johnson praised the effort of his team and young Fuller, in particular.

“I think the motivation to win this Lynk Cup is because we are not doing well in the Premier League and it’s showing in the players’ performance. Nickalia came out and gave us a good shift and I think this is one of my best games to be honest overall, we were good both in attack and defence and I think we got the result we needed,” he told the Observer.

“We just have to keep them grounded and working as we go through the days leading up to the second leg. So we are confident but we also want to be disciplined as well,” he added.