FORMER champions Portmore United will be looking to rebound in style from arguably their worse season last year and put themselves back where they belong — the pinnacle of the Digicel Premier League.

Wayne Sinclair, chairman of Portmore United, said he expects a huge turnaround this year because the atmosphere at the club is very positive.

Said Sinclair: “The vibes in the camp is very good because everybody is disappointed about last year and everybody does have a strong sense in Portmore and we want to reverse what happened last year.”

Last season, Portmore finished seventh and out of the top four for the first time in many moons.

Portmore, winners in 1993, 2003, 2005 and 2008, ended the season on 47 points inclusive of 11 wins from 38 games and 13 defeats to be 30 points behind the winners.

And despite this, Sinclair said his club will be depending on youth to deliver the goods.

“We’ve definitely decided to go with a younger set-up this year. We’ve had a lot of success in the past with our Under-21 programme. Our Under-17s have also done very well, so we have seen some maturity in those kids now and we’re putting them in the forefront.

“They have shown that they are ready to make the transition to this level,” he pointed out.

Last season Portmore United could only muster 24 goals in 38 games and that was the main reason for their dismal performance.

“One of the things we’ve worked on and have seen tremendous improvement in, which beat us last year, and that is scoring goals,” Sinclair said.

“We’ve been putting the ball in the back of the nets in pre-season and with that, combined with our traditional defence, should serve us well and put us back to where people are used to seeing us,” he added.

Portmore will open their campaign with a difficult away trip to Reno at Frome this afternoon and that will be the beginning of a serious title challenge this season.

“We’re not here to do anything else than win the title. The competition is going to be very strong and the professionalism from all the other teams around is not going to make it an easy challenge, so I think this year more than any other year will be a test of endurance,” said Sinclair.

Portmore United were not very active in the transfer window, with former National Under-20 striker Alonzo Adlam from Sporting Central Academy being the only significant acquisition.

However, national striker Devon Hodges remains on their radar, although Sinclair admitted he is not sure if they will land the prolific forward.