Having led his team to a sixth-place finish in last year’s Wray & Nephew Jamaica Premier League (JPL), Marcel “Fuzzy’’ Gayle, head coach of Waterhouse, says his players are showing the hunger and desire necessary to go all the way in this season’s competition, and is backing them to achieve that goal.

Waterhouse, who last won the title in the 2005-2006 season, kicked off their campaign on Monday night with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over promoted side Racing United at the Anthony Spauldings Sports Complex.

New signing Atapharoy Bygrave netted the all-important goal in the 50th minute to lead the team to victory. Waterhouse goalkeeper Kemar Foster played an integral role in securing the result, brilliantly saving a penalty from Rodave Murray in the second half.

The Drewsland-based club, who were knocked out in the quarter-finals of last season’s competition by rivals Arnett Gardens, have also added Martin Davis, Nicholas Hamilton, Roshawn Clarke, Zackiya Wilks, Junior McGregor, Kymani Campbell, Mario Simms, and Mark Roberts to the squad this season. They have retained key players like Nickoy Christian, Denardo Thomas, Elvis Wilson, and Andre Smith.

Gayle noted that his players have shown determination and willpower in their build-up to this season’s competition, and have made it clear they are serious about winning the title.

“Our aim is to stay at the top and take it from there. We are going to take every match one game at a time and go out there and play to the best of our abilities,” Gayle said.

“It is down to the players and how much they want it, and when I look in their eyes, they are training like they want it, and they are behaving like they want it,” said the experienced Gayle.

“They are more cohesive now, and they are getting an understanding of how each other play. There is hunger and desire that I am seeing in them and the chemistry and team building is coming together, so I am feeling very positive,” Gayle added.

Reflecting on his team’s opening victory over Racing United, Gayle said he was pleased with the win but insisted they should have won by a bigger margin.

“It is a good performance from us in this opening game. I think with a little more patience and a little more luck in front of goal, we could have easily won by a wider margin,” he said.

“I think we created a lot of chances, but kudos to the Racing goalkeeper, I thought he made the difference between two or three more goals but I am also happy we kept a clean sheet,” Gayle emphasised.

“Our goalkeeper Kemar Foster also came up trumps for us with that brilliant penalty save.”

Gayle highlighted that they had not placed much emphasis on their attacking unit in the buildup to this game and that it is an area they will now be focusing on as the competition progresses.

“We created a number of chances, but we haven’t been working much in the final third, so that is the area we will be working on going forward,” he noted.