UNIVERSITY of the West Indies’ (UWI) defeat of neighbours Real Mona, in Saturday’s Jamaica National/Kingston & St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) Super League final at the Barbican playing field, has brought immeasurable satisfaction to players and management staff.

The win mean UWI advanced as KSAFA’s representatives to the All-island Premier League play-offs.

“This has been our objective for the past six years. We started at the Syd Bartlett [League], the lowest division in KSAFA, and worked our way up to the Major League then to the Super League, with the aim of getting into the Premier League,” assistant coach Andrew Peart outlined.

“We are not there as yet, but just a bit closer to the objective and we have now have to work much harder than we have been doing,” he continued.

Though UWI had defeated their Mona-based rivals twice before during the preliminary stage, Peart said his unit was cautioned against complacency.

“We did not underestimate our opponents coming into the game. We played them twice before in the season and won both games 1-0. But we knew that this is a final and each team comes in with a 50 percent chance, and the other 50 percent can swing either way.

“What we did was to execute our training plan to play at a high tempo and to move the ball which would tire our opponents, and it worked for us. Real Mona came in with some injuries and this also contributed to our success,” Peart pointed out.

He said his players will have to find another gear if they are to be successful in their promotion quest.

“Now that you are in the play-offs, it is reasonable to expect you to raise your level of performance to meet the challenge.

“Yes, this is natural. It is a higher level of opposition than we would be competing against, as we will be facing teams from all over the island, some of whom possess vast experience in the Premier League. You are now very close to the Premier League and no team will want to reach that far without gritty opposition. So we will have to continue training harder. We would have to play games harder with greater consistency,” Peart explained.

The UWI assistant coach already has a plan of approaching the play-offs. He believes that getting as many points in the first three games will be important in determining which teams qualify for the top flight.