1 year ago
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A PULSATING Jamaica Premier League (JPL) west Kingston derby between Arnett Gardens and Tivoli Gardens on Monday night at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Centre has thrust Jamaican football into the spotlight on social media (with one social media user (n1ckpagano) rating the game a 9.95 out of 10, while declaring that it’s the best game he has seen as a neutral spectator.
Arnett came from behind twice to win the game 5-3, thanks to a Warner Brown second-half hat trick and n1ckpagano a TikToker, who has started a challenge to watch football from all around the world was tickled pink.
“Jamaican football is f****** insane,” said n1ckpagano.
He noted that it was day 34 and 35 of attempting to watch one football game each day for the entire year and that he wanted to continue his adventure around the Caribbean with Barbados and Jamaica hosting his leagues of choice for the weekend.
But while he described the game in Barbados as being lacklustre, affected by heavy winds and having too many stoppages for him to enjoy, the JPL game between the battle of the gardens turned out to be a real classic.
“If you want to see the Jamaican game. The actual good game of this video skip about 30 seconds because I am not even going to wait on the Barbados game.
“Now it is off to Jamaica for the real meat and potato of this video,” he said after describing the Barbados encounter.
“It is one of those games of football that is just great all round. You cannot criticise anything about it. It was near perfection. So I’ll just run you through what happened.”
N1ckpagano then went into the ebb and flow of the match and the drama which unfolded over the 90 minutes.
“Tivoli started stronger. Creating some great chances until they finally broke the deadlock on the 24th minute and what a goal.
“So he (Nichalia Fuller) beat his man with a lovely fake shot, and the finish is simply sublime, off the post, which always looks so sexy. The cut across the body to get the chance as well, and genuinely a great finish.
The TikTok influencer then described Arnett’s equaliser from Joel Jones in the 25th and Tivoli’s response from Roshawn Oldfield in the 35th.
He also narrated as the game’s footage continued to be displayed, the way Arnett fought back, striking the post with a stunning free kick before Tivoli went further ahead, scoring in the 45th through Tkiven Garnett.
At 3-1, the game should have been well and truly over, but with a half to play, a Warner Brown hat trick put paid to convention.
Brown got on to the scoresheet in the 70th, equalised in the 71st, before putting Arnett ahead in the 77th minute.
“Some pinball action in the box would fall kindly to an Arnett man (Brown), who reduced the deficit to just one goal,” theTik Toker exclaimed.
“Got whiplash yet? You’re about to.”
“A swift counterattack and a fortunate deflection off the goalkeeper and defender would allow Arnett Gardens to level the game. It may be cruel to Tivoli but Arnett would absolutely take it,” he said of Brown’s second.
“Genuinely in the blink of an eye Arnett Gardens went from 3-1 down to 4-3 up. This bloke (Brown) completed an eight-minute hat trick and I can’t believe my eyes and then to put that nice little finishing touch on this game, with Tivoli having pushed every man they have up, Arnett were able to counter in the dying seconds and scored a fifth (Fabian Reid 90th) with that being game, set and match.
“This may just be the greatest game of football I’ve ever seen as a neutral. The football played in this game was great.
“These Jamaican boys have some tech (technical ability) about them. And if I’m being honest, I don’t think I will ever see a better game in this challenge.
“I wouldn’t mind going to Jamaica either. I give this game a 9.95 out of 10, making it the game to beat in my standings.”
English (US) ·