After Racing United FC secured their first-ever victory in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL), Head Coach Anthony Patrick hopes that his team can push on to achieve even more wins this season.

Racing United, playing in the JPL for the first time in their history after gaining promotion from the Tier Two competition, registered a hard-fought 1-0 victory over fellow St Catherine team Dunbeholden on Sunday.

Mikail Williams netted the all-important goal for the Gregory Park, Portmore-based club in the 43rd minute to secure the win in only their second league outing. Racing had lost 0-1 in their opening game of the season to former champions Waterhouse.

“We were very unlucky in our first game against Waterhouse when we lost one-nil, but we went back, put in some work and made some adjustments to the team for this game and it bore some fruit for us,” said Patrick.

“I must tell you that we are pretty happy with this victory because it is the first for the club and the first one for the community. It took a long time and a lot of hard work and dedication from the players, coaching staff, and management, so we are happy that it has finally happened for us. This is a big morale booster for the club going forward,” Patrick added.

He said the victory has given his players much more confidence and they are even more determined to achieve great things this season.

“The players are really upbeat and happy for this one, and they are looking forward to the next game on Sunday. We have to put in some more work and we have Arnett Gardens on Sunday and this is going to be a cracker but we are looking forward to it,” he said.

“We are not here to make up numbers. For the last two seasons in Tier Two, we always played against some of the top Premier League teams. We have always put on a good showing every time we played against them, so competing in this league is no different,” Patrick noted.

The veteran coach noted that they have assembled a fairly young team for this year’s competition, but most of his players have been playing together for more than six years and therefore, he is expecting great performances in the league.

“When you look at this team, we have about three or four outsiders in our entire squad of 30 players. Most of the players are young and they have been with us since 2017 and the camaraderie is good, and team spirit is building excellently,” Patrick pointed out.

“Our aim is to be in the top six, but we are going to take it one game at a time, stage by stage. We have set specific targets for certain teams and positions by the end of the first 13 games,” he said.