Following their stellar performances in the recently concluded Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Charley’s JB Rum Premier League play-offs, Jamalco FC will be optimistic that they can carry over the rich vein of form to the nation’s top flight.

The South Confederation champions earned promotion to top-flight football by virtue of topping the four-team play-off standings with 16 points in a dazzling unbeaten campaign. Their statistic includes an impressive five consecutive victories and one draw from six outings.

The only blunder on the part of the Clarendon-based team came last Sunday in their final fixture at the Wembley Centre of Excellence, where they were held to a 1-1 score-line by Maverley/Hughenden.

That result allowed the KSAFA champions to secure the second promotion spot in the upcoming season of the Red Stripe Premier League, much to the dismay of rural fans, who argued that most of the teams in the league are from the Corporate Area.

However, head coach of Jamalco Rayon Johnson dismissed suggestions that his team gifted Maverley/Hughenden the desired result.

“No. We came out here to play our game, but an error on the part of the ‘keeper cost us. we were trying to push hard trying to get the goals and that did not happen,” he told the Jamaica Observer in a post-game interview.

“The aim was to go six from six, but the players did not stick to the game plan and abandoned their roles. But such is life, such is football, we just have to put this aside and look forward to our next task ahead,” he added.

With their historic first-time qualification, Jamalco will now join Humble Lion and Portmore United, who play their home games at Juici Park as the Clarendon-based teams in the Premier League.

Both Portmore United and Humble Lion made it to the semi-final round last season, with the former losing out in the final to champions Montego Bay United.

Johnson is aware that his youthful unit will have to make vast improvements if they intend to emulate or even surpass the achievements of their neighbours, and by extension avoid relegation.

“We are aiming to go into the Premier League convincingly, but in order to do that we have a lot of work to do and we intend to put in all the stops. We are going to step up the work; we have a few things that we need to work on to ensure that our footing is right and that we maintain our discipline when we get to the league,” he explained.

One of their first and most significant tasks ahead of the season will be to strengthen their squad, and the young tactician pointed out that the recruiting process is already in full swing.

“Yeah, we will be looking to carry over a stronger unit to the league, so we will definitely be adding a few players to our squad. We have a fairly young squad as you can see, and they gave a really good account of themselves over the season, and we are hoping to carry over that level of consistency or even better when we get to the league,” Johnson noted.