Andrew Price was left beaming with pride on Sunday after Humble Lions won their second match in a row for the first time this season when they clipped Portmore United 1-0 at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence.

The team that was being called the “draw specialists” after registering eight stalemates so far this term have found form late in the season as they threaten for a spot in the play-offs.

Price believes that it is the work on the defensive end of the pitch that is now allowing his team to reap rewards at the attacking end.

“I’m exceedingly pleased. It’s the first time that we have won games back-to-back in a very long time. I always say that once we hit the straps and play well defensively, we would get the goals and we did that.”

He thought his boys put in a good shift on their way to 17 points from 16 games and leapfrogging Portmore United into eighth place.

“We defended very well and when we got an opportunity, we took it. Sometimes it takes only one goal to win a game and I think we worked assiduously at that in our defensive shape for the entire game and I think we really played out a good game.”

Price insists that the project is not yet finished, but believes that his players are growing in character which augers well for the rest of the campaign.

“It’s a work in progress, we are not where we want to be but it’s a work in progress. I think the mentality has improved. They are much stronger characters and they are playing out the entire 90 minutes, and I think they are playing well.”

Making the play-offs has now become a priority for the team from Clarendon and that can only be achieved with consistent performance for the remaining six games, Price surmised.

“We want to try and see if we can get into the play-offs and that is what we are going to do. We want to see if we can play some consistent football for the remainder of the season.”

Price is hoping that the blend of youth and experience within his squad will complement each other enough to see them into the top six at the end of the regular season.

“We have some young players who are playing Premier League for the first time, they are learning on the job. We have some experienced players around them trying to carry them, so we are slowly but surely gelling and we want to continue in the same vein and use this as a platform so that we can kick on and get some more points,” he said.

Humble Lions’ chances of making the play-offs will be severely tested when they come up against Waterhouse FC next weekend.