Tivoli Gardens jumped to the top of the Cash Plus Premier League with a 1-0 win over Arnett Gardens at the Edward Seaga Stadium as Portmore United suffered their third defeat in four games.

There were also 1-0 wins for champion Harbour View and Waterhouse as the top five teams separated themselves from the chasing pack.

At the Edward Sega Stadium, home team Tivoli Gardens had to wait until the dying moments before captain Christopher Jackson found the winner in the 90^th minute.

It was a dominating performance by the orange and black-clad Tivoli over their fierce rival Arnett Gardens. Jackson collected a pass at the top of the key, and struck a sweet left footer that flew pass the outstanding goalkeeper Julian McLeish and into the back of the net.

It was a deserved victory for the home team that dominated and should have won by a wider margin after missing several goalscoring opportunities.

Tivoli Gardens occupy the top spot for the first time this season on 30 points, two more than Portmore United as only five points separates first from the fifth placed team.

Arnett Gardens remained in 11^th position on 15 points in the 12-team league.

Meanwhile over at Lynch Park, Portland, St George’s continued their impressive home run with an emphatic 3-1 win over Portmore United.

A brace by Damion Harwood in the 28^th and 63^rd minutes for his fifth and sixth goals of the season and a 90^th minute strike from Richardo Watson, pushed St George’s to their seventh win, all coming at home.

Fabian Davis was the lone scorer for Portmore with a 45^th minute strike that proved futile.

The Donovan Duckie-coach promoted boys stayed in fifth position on 25 points just five behind the new leader Tivoli Gardens.

St George’s, the surprise package this season, have opened up a five-point gap on sixth-placed team Boys’ Town

The faltering Portmore United have garnered just four points from their last five games to remain on 28 points, but have slipped a spot to second, after blowing a six-point lead in recent weeks.

Former champion Waterhouse stayed third with a hard-fought 1-0 win over another promoted team Sporting Central at Drewsland.

Weston Forrest found the winner six minutes from time with a headed goal in the 84^th minute.

It was Waterhouse’s seventh win of the campaign as they stayed in touch with the leaders on 27 points.

The Clarendon-based Sporting Central are in 10^th place on 16 points and have not won a match in the last five rounds.

New technical director Rene Simoes was on hand to witness his first game since arriving on Saturday, January 5 at the Compound. Midfield general Jermaine Hue took the opportunity to remind Simoes of his class with a beauty from 30 metres out as Harbour View edged August Town 1-0.

Hue picked up a ball in the middle of the park, eluded two players before firing a spectacular shot that flew into the top of the net. It was truly a goal deserving to decide the outcome of any game.

Harbour View with their seventh win remained in fourth on 26 points and have closed the gap after slumping in early December to be at one stage 11 points off the leaders.

August Town, which was suffering their season high eighth loss of the season, are on 16 points in ninth place.

At Collie Smith Drive, home team Boys’ Town were held to a 0-0 draw by Reno after missing a handful of opportunities and had to share the points.

Boys’ Town inched to 20 points in sixth position while the Westmoreland-based Reno are in eighth on 18 points.

Reno’s Patrick Graham was taken to hospital after he sustained a concussion in a head-to-head collision with teammate Dwayne Williams.

Cellar team Village United reached double digits after holding Seba United to a 0-0 draw at the Elliston Wakeland Centre in a poor display by both teams.

Only a handful of chances were created and the spectators were hoping for another exciting encounter after both teams played to a 2-2 draw in the first round.

The St James outfit Seba, coached by former Reggae Boyz Theodore “Tappa” Whitmore and the Trelawny-based Village coached by Paul “Tegat” Davis, also a former Reggae Boyz, turned in a tepid performance of which both coached should be ashamed of.

Seba are in seventh position on 19 points while Village remained rooted to the bottom on 10 points from 16 games.

The Cash Plus Premier League continue on Wednesday with a full slate of games.