HEAD coach of Tivoli Gardens Jerome Waite and his Waterhouse counterpart Marcel Gayle were both left disappointed with their teams’ costly errors which saw them end in a 1-1 draw their first-leg quarter-final encounter of the Wray and Nephew Jamaica Premier League play-offs on Monday at Sabina Park.

In the 40th minute Tivoli midfielder Nathan Thomas lost possession in his own 18-yard box and subsequently brought down Waterhouse striker Javane Bryan to give away a penalty kick. Bryan would comfortably convert after a brief delay to score his 15th goal of the season in the 44th minute, handing Waterhouse the advantage going into the break.

However, Tivoli would find the equaliser in the 74th minute when a Rodico Wellington free kick created a mix-up in the Waterhouse defence, which led to an easy tap in for Lennox Russell.

Though happy with the fightback Waite, who was recognised as the Coach of the Season, believed his team should have been victorious.

“Our concentration level went where[in] we gave up a penalty; and at this level, decision making in the final third, you cannot be turning inside to goal — it must be away from goal. Waterhouse came here with a purpose and they did fairly well in the first half,” Waite assessed.

“The second half was a different thing. When I went to the bench and started to pull players, we got so many chances that we should have put away to make it our game but [it was a] tough game. Waterhouse came with a purpose [but] it was good to know that, despite how we started out a little shaky, in the end we picked up the game,” Waite added.

After two regular season defeats to Tivoli Gardens, Gayle, despite lamenting their own mistakes, was happy his team came away with a positive result this time around.

“You would be disappointed but it’s the nature of the game; it’s a high-intensity game. We should be more responsible in the back third — and we practise for those set plays — but unfortunately, it happens. It would have been frustrating if I’d lost the game but we scored a goal against them and kept them low on scoring so that’s improvement for us, and we can get better,” said Gayle.

Both teams return to Sabina Park next Monday as they look to qualify for the semi-finals of the competition.

Arnett Gardens and Portmore United played the other quarter-final play-off in Monday’s late kick-off.

The quarter-finalists are looking to join the already-qualified Mount Pleasant Academy and Cavalier in the semi-final stage.