Tim Hankinson to replace Underwood as MoBay coach
Montego Bay United (MBU) is to hire another foreigner as coach. Orville Powell, president of the Red Stripe Premier League-based outfit, said Tim Hankinson will replace Roderick Underwood, who left the club following a string of poor performances.
“Tim Hankinson will be coming in as a replacement,” said Powell. “He was here before for a very short period so is back now. We are not sure as to how long he will be around, but for the short term I think he can help us.”
Hankinson had a brief stint with MBU during the 2015-16 season. Underwood, who was brought in from the United States to take over the reins at MBU last February, lasted less than a year.
“He stated that the lack of resources affected his ability to perform better and so he decided to leave. Overall though, I think the results just weren’t going his way despite the excuses,” said Powell.
MBU have only won five of their 18 games this season under the guidance of Underwood. The team lost eight games, conceded 24 goals, scored 14.
“The talk was all around that we must fire him. I don’t know if it was under some sort of uncertainty, in a sport where performance is key, but, honestly, I wasn’t thinking that way. I wanted some sort of stability going forward so whatever difficulty we were facing we would have hoped we could work them out,” said Powell.
MBU sit in eight place with 25 points on the 12-team table.
The team has signed former Russea’s player Leonardo Faggoty to assist with attacking duties.
Hankinson’s first task could may well be to stop the leakage of goals around the back, which will not be easy given that MBU recently lost both goalkeepers. Jacomeno Barrett has been traded to Humble Lion FC and their backup goalkeeper David Swaby has also jumped ship to join a rising team Falmouth United.
Despite not being able to keep a clean sheet in eight of their last nine games, assistant coach Dillon Thelwell fail to admit that they are struggling defensively.
“I think our defensive unit has always been strong, the majority of the goals against us have been on set plays. It is not like teams always run through our defence,” said Thelwell, after their 0-0 draw with Sandals South Coast FC on Sunday.