Phillip Williams ovesaw his first game as head coach of Portmore United on Monday, coming away with a 0-0 draw with Vere United and stopped a three-game losing skid as the former champions picked up their 17th point of the season.

Williams was okay with getting a point and refused to blame his players for not grabbing all three.

“I am pleased with us achieving one of our objectives, which was to keep a clean sheet. I think we dominated the game and should have come away with more than what we came away with; but in terms of how the boys played, there is nothing much there that we could blame them for not performing, they did well,” he reasoned.

He made it clear that the club was not comfortable with their current standing in the league and that for the remaining four games of the season they would be giving it the best that they have.

“We are not comfortable, we train to win and we have ambitions of making a deeper run in the competition and that means trying to gather as many points of what is remaining for the end of the season. So, we are not comfortable and we are working to change that position,” he said.

Williams is trying to get his new team to quickly adapt to his methods with time running out on the 2022 season.

“First of all, I have to get them to adapt to my philosophy and I think they did well in terms of how they possessed the football and controlled the game.

“What was lacking probably was the final decision in front of goal and that is definitely something that we will be working on.”

Having had a week to look at this squad before his first game in charge, Williams made the assessment that they were underachieving.

“It is a very deep squad with a lot of talent and we have persons there with experience that can lead these youngsters. They train hard and they are very good at what they do. In terms of the quality they have, in terms of our position it should be much different from where we are and we are working hard to change that.”

Currently, Portmore United are three places and eight points outside of the play-off positions and despite having only four games to close the gap, Williams is keeping faith that his team can finish the regular season in the top six.

“We are still optimistic and positive where that is concerned. We have twelve points remaining and those points are crucial points which if we gather them and things go our way otherwise, we will giver ourselves a good chance of making it in the top six.”

Portmore’s realistic chances of finishing in the top four hinges on their next game which will be against second-placed Dunbeholden who have shown a chink in their armour, dropping points in their last two games.