Portmore ready
Shavar Thomas, the head coach of title-holders Portmore United, is pleased with preparation ahead of the start of the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) season but says he will take no team for granted.
Portmore were engaged in the Concacaf League before losing 2-5 on aggregate at the quarter-final stage to Motagua of Honduras two weeks ago.
The six-time national league winners (one time as Hazard United) open their 2018-19 RSPL campaign at their adopted Spanish Town Prison Oval home base against newcomers Mount Pleasant Academy on Sunday, and while not wanting his team to hit full stride too early in the season, Thomas thinks the Concacaf club competition provided a handy pre-season boost.
“Our pre-season started early, preparing for the Concacaf club championship. We got knocked out by Motagua, but nevertheless we were in good stead and the team played well,” Thomas said.
“It’s about the RSPL now and we have to turn our focus to that. We want to play at that level and start the season on a high. We don’t want to peak too early, but playing in that competition gave us some good, quality games…pre-season games, if you will, and we can use that to our advantage,” Thomas told the Jamaica Observer during a telephone interview.
After wearing the tag of losing finalists at the end of the 2016-17 campaign, Portmore won the RSPL last season thanks to a 4-3 penalty shoot-out win over Waterhouse FC after the teams were locked 0-0 at the end of regulation and extra time.
“Our mindset is simple — we’re taking it one game at a time. Our first game of the season is against Mount Pleasant and that is where our focus is. After that game we look to the next one,” the Portmore coach added.
Mount Pleasant, based in St Ann, have created plenty of chatter due to reports of higher-than-normal wages luring some of the nation’s most prominent players.
Thomas, though acknowledging the calibre players that Mount Pleasant possess, stressed that his focus is on his unit.
“We’re more focused on our team, and playing well, and doing the right things, and doing the simple things, than we are about Mount Pleasant. They have garnered some good quality, but at the same time they are in a new competition.
“If you look at the Premier League and how it ended last season and with the inclusion of the [newly promoted teams] you’ll look at every team as a potential competitor,” he reasoned.
Portmore lost attacking thrust when the pacy and skilful Maalique Foster recently signed a one-year deal with Deportivo Alajuelense of Costa Rica.
But Thomas told the Observer he still has proven goalscorers in Javon East and Captain Ricardo Morris.
“Losing Maalique and a couple of other players — I wouldn’t even call it a setback. That is what Portmore is all about; we want to get talent and nurture them and export the talent, and that is how our club is going to grow. We have other young players waiting in the wings and who are ready to replace Maalique,” Thomas explained.