Fitzgerald cites indiscipline for August Town's lowly placing

FOLLOWING his team's 1-1 draw with Rivoli United at Spanish Town Prison Oval on Sunday, August Town's coach, Calvert Fitzgerald, has blamed the lowly position of his club on indiscipline.

"With the last six of our 12 games ending with a player ejected, then it is no wonder the team is in the lowest part of the competition," Fitzgerald told The Gleaner.

The draw left August Town second-from-bottom on nine points overall, while Rivoli are eighth, on 13. St Georges Sports Club lead the 12-team championship with 26 points.

August Town silenced the partisan home crowd when they took the lead at the 48th minute, as Aphas Bernard outran his marker and shot past the Rivoli custodian.

Rivoli appeared determined to appease their fans and stepped up the pace, with national striker Devon Hodges, the competition's leading goal scorer, along with Valentine Gardener and Kemar Brown, leading the charge.

However, August Town never wilted and fought back gamely to ensure a competitive battle with Nicholas Smith and Raymond Williams doing quite well.

After a while, the Spanish Town team started to assert some pressure and was duly compensated when Williams put a foot wrong and brought down Rivoli's Fidel Anderson in the penalty area. Referee Raymond Bogle responded by pointing to the spot.

Spot kick

Last year's golden-boot winner, Hodges, converted a spot kick to level the scores in the 65th minute.

Things went downhill for Williams and August Town as two minutes later, the defender was ejected.

Before they could catch their breath, Bogle dismissed Rivoli's Fidel Anderson, leaving both teams to fight out the last 22 minutes of regulation time on even heel with 10 players apiece.

Rivoli, buoyed by the goal, played the better game and pressed hard as they tried to clinch victory. However, they would prove to be their worst enemy as striker Kirk Ramsey missed three clear scoring chances.

Oneil Thomas, the coach of Rivoli, said his team's failure to win a number of its matches is a worrying trend.

"The team is not converting the chances for us to win matches. We're just not winning the games to move up in the competition," said Thomas.