Players, staff and supporters of Reno FC remain ecstatic after the club pulled off ‘The Great Escape’ on Sunday.

The Westmoreland-based outfit, facing demotion from the nation’s top flight, blanked the visiting title holders Montego Bay United 2-0 at the Frome Sports Complex on the final match day of the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) preliminary stage. The win moved Reno, a team with a rich history in local club football, to 10th place on 35 points as they escaped the relegation trap door.

Fortuitously for Reno, the Clarendon-located Sporting Central FC who began the day with a two-point advantage lost 1-2 away to Tivoli Gardens FC. Sporting, who ended with 34 points, and were left in 11th place, along with Barbican FC, will not feature in the league next season.

Wendell Downswell, the Reno stalwart who took over in the middle of the campaign after coach Patrick Graham stepped aside, did not cloak his relief.

“It is a very elated feeling… it’s like we have won a championship,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “Our backs were against the wall, but in the latter part [of the season] we fought gallantly.”

And fight they did. Though they endured inconsistent results throughout the season — even after the experienced Downswell took charge — Reno finally were able to string together positive results as the RSPL came down to the wire.

The team from Frome secured eight points from their final four matches, including two wins and as many draws.

The veteran coach said overcoming western rivals Montego Bay was no easy feat.

“Most times when we are up against the top teams we tend to perform better and we really worked hard. It was a very tough game, a bruising game… the second half we had to soak up a lot of pressure.”

Asked why it took Reno so long to find their feet, even after he took the reins, Downswell said various factors contributed.

“We had to part company with some players based on their general [bad] attitude. It took a little while to get really going. When we took over the team there were problems that they were experiencing. But I admit I think it (the improvement) would have come much earlier. We just didn’t have that level of consistency, and again we didn’t have the quality in terms of commitment,” said Downswell, the youth co-ordinator for the male and female national football teams.

Reno, three-time champions of the national league, most recently in the 1994-95 campaign, have fallen on hard times in recent years. They were only promoted to the RSPL at the start of this season and finished 10th in a league of 12 teams, way behind several clubs with a smaller trophy cabinet.

But Reno, under the guidance of Graham, did have moments of joy this season, especially after lifting the all-island Flow Champions Cup Knockout crown last November.

Downswell, who has twice led Jamaica Under-17 boys team to the FIFA World Cup, said with the necessary infrastructure in place Reno will be targeting a top-four spot next season.

“It might sound a bit far-fetched, but come next season I figure, based on what I’ve seen when we play against the better teams, that we can get into the semi-finals. Once we can get a comprehensive programme in place and make the salary of the players performance-oriented, we can do it.

“We will be looking around the parish and outside as well to see how we can get this team better. We are looking forward to put a comprehensive programme in place to carry us to a level. The pre-season preparation, also, will be of utmost importance so that the start is on a positive note,” he said, while thanking fans and well-wishers of the club for “making special effort” to help the team.

The 2015-16 Premier League season is expected to start between August and September of this year.