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TIVOLI GARDENS Football Club of Jamaica progressed to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) final round qualification for the 2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup after defeating visiting CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 on Wednesday night in Jamaica and winning their semi-final home and away series 2-1 on aggregate.

After drawing the first-leg 1-1 at the Hasley Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain on November 3, Tivoli Gardens used a goal by Markino Gilling to win the second encounter at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex in Kingston seven days later.

Gilling was the hero for Tivoli Gardens with a second-half strike that gave the Jamaicans a victory.

Just prior to the one-hour mark, the home crowd got something about which to cheer in an otherwise colourless match. Defender Victor Thompson won possession of the ball and relayed a pass down the right to Oraine Simpson, who did well to whip in a cross for the diminutive Gillings to head home at the near post.

Tivoli Gardens coach Glendon Bailey, well-known dancehall reggae star "Admiral Bailey", identified the depth of his squad as one of the keys to success.

"I think we have a rounded team," he told reporters. "We have depth and we have people who can step into the fold whenever players are absent, so we were confident because we knew that the people we brought in could fill the gap well."

Angus Eve, Jabloteh's injured player/coach, believed his side clearly fell short of their usual class and flair.

"I think we never matched the intensity of Tivoli Gardens and that was the difference," said Eve. "We just never raised our game to the level they were playing. We played in patches and you can't win games in this way."

Tivoli Gardens will meet another Jamaican club, Harbour View FC, in the Caribbean final home-and-away series scheduled for December 8 and 15.

It will be the second consecutive year that the CFU Final will be contested by two clubs from the same country.

Last year, Jabloteh defeated fellow T&T club Vibe CT105 W. Connection 4-2 on penalty kicks to claim the Caribbean crown.

The winner of the CFU finals will join DC United and Kansas City Wizards of the United States, two clubs from Mexico, and three clubs from the Union Centroamericana de Fútbol in the 2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, which begins straight knockout home-and-away series on March 9.

The winner of the 2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup will qualify for the next FIFA Club World Championship to be held in Japan in December next year.

The CONCACAF Champions' Cup is the longest-running international club competition in the region and has crowned the champion club of the Confederation since its inception in 1962.