Arnett’s Thomas: ‘We have to keep digging deeper and deeper’
ARNETT Gardens missed an opportunity to move back into fifth place in the Red Stripe Premier League on Monday night when they were held 1-1 by leaders Waterhouse at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.
A 24th minute strike by their leading scorer Kemal Malcom seemed to have won all three points for the ‘Junglists’ whose hearts were then broken by substitute Denardo Thomas when he produced a super strike in the 91st minute to grab a share of the spoils for Waterhouse.
The result leaves Arnett Gardens one point and one place outside of the play-offs as they now have 42 points with four matches to go. The two teams above them, fifthplaced Dunbeholden FC and sixth-placed Tivoli Gardens FC, both have 43 points but are separated by goal difference.
Arnett Gardens Head Coach Alex Thomas had to praise the strike that denied his team the win.
“Praises to the boys, but it was a beautiful strike, a beautiful goal from the Waterhouse player [Denardo Thomas],” he said.
But the Arnett tactician vowed to keep pushing for that all-important play-off spot even as the number of games to get the job done dwindles.
“Unfortunately, we never got the three points, but we just have to keep digging deeper and deeper and keep fighting to the end for the play-off spot,” he said.
The former Arnett Gardens player recognised the difficulty of the task but believes that achieving their main objective will come through team work.
“It’s going to get tougher and tougher, but we just have to stick together as a team, stay focused, and stick to our objective.”
Thomas admitted only wins going forward will favour his team’s push for a play-off spot.
“We just have to keep working as a team and going forward it’s just three points,” he noted.
Thomas thinks that the key moment in the last game was when his team was reduced to 10 players following the dismissal of Oshane Roberts in the 79th minute.
“There is always hope. We have to keep the unit happy, keep them focused, and keep them working. It’s just unfortunate we went down to 10 men and we had to adjust by taking off Damari Deacon, who was having a beautiful game, but we had to adjust and bring on a defender,” he bemoaned.
— Dwayne Richards
