PANAMA CITY, Panama — Reggae Boyz Head Coach Paul Hall has indicated that Blackpool central midfielder Kevin Stewart will get some playing time in the remaining games in this round of the Concacaf World Cup qualifying campaign.

And the 28-year-old is eager to don the national colours of Jamaica and try to halt the flagging fortunes of his teammates.

“I’m looking forward to get involved,” he told the Jamaica Observer prior to Saturday’s final practice session at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez.

He added: “The last game I watched from the stands, which would have been really good to play in, and just seeing the boys put up a good fight and really coming together being a man down. It was good to watch a lot of the times, and I just really want to be involved. Hopefully the next one I can feature and get involved and help them out. And, hopefully, bring what I plan to bring.”

Stewart was the only newcomer to Hall’s first squad selection for the qualifiers, but the Blackpool man arrived a day before the crucial match and was not included in the 23-man squad.

However, on arrival here, Hall did indicate that there are plans to introduce the player at some stage, be it from the start or as a substitute.

And at Saturday’s only training session since the team’s arrival here Stewart operated on the second team at the start, but was used with what appeared to be the starting group later on.

“We’ve got to manage him and manage his minutes and hopefully we can get him into the game and into the games because he’s a good player and he helps us to progress up the pitch,” Hall said.

From what was seen on the pitch Stewart seems comfortable on the ball and appears to have the ability to switch the direction of play.

“I think first and foremost from a defensive point of view, that’s what I consider my main identity, to kind of off the ball, keep the team together, keep them organised, [make us] hard to break down, hard to play through, lot of regaining of possession, try and make it as tough as possible for the threats of the other team,” was his description of the type of player that he is.

Stewart says there is tremendous potential in the group, and although it appears that their destiny might no longer be in their hands, they plan to give it their all to the end.

“The team has some quality players, of course. The one thing that stands out is that a lot of players are new so sometimes when you watched spells with Mexico they look like they’ve been together for a long time,” he stated.

Stewart rued the missed opportunity in last Thursday’s game, with the Boyz having led 1-0 from the 50the minute through Daniel Johnson’s second international goal for Jamaica, only to lose it all in two devastating minutes from the Mexicans.

“If we had got the three points against Mexico it would have put us in good stead…we probably would have kept it in our hands, and it’s probably looked like it’s going to be out of our hands in terms of us looking and hoping for other teams to get results for us, which is always tough,” he said.

— Ian Burnett