Price pleased with first year at Humble Lion
Although Humble Lion head coach Andrew Price lamented the premature end to the 2019-20 Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) season, he was pleased with how the team performed in his first season in charge. After an eighth-place finish in the 2018-19 campaign which included the dismissal of Glendon ‘Admiral’ Bailey in February 2019, Price the long-time coach of Boys’ Town was brought in to improve the Clarendon-based club’s fortunes.
He said that he was pleased with some of the milestones reached for this campaign, which included being in the play-off hunt and for players Dennis Taylor and Andre Clennon to get national team opportunities. Despite not being able to finish things on the field, he says that a platform has been set for success next season.
“I think we achieved a certain number of our objectives for the season and it was just unfortunate that we weren’t able to complete it,” Price said. “But it sets a good foundation for the coming season and we would want to operate in a similar manner in which we operated this season.”
Humble Lion, with four games left in the regular season, were in a good position to qualify for the play-offs, tied for third place on points (46) with defending champions Portmore United. That was an 11-point improvement from their 35-point total last season. Additionally, they conceded only 23 goals this year, fewer than the 38 they allowed last year.
GOOD RAPPORT
Price said that a contributor to the success in his first year at Effortville was the good rapport he had with the community and players, which helped him to settle quickly to his new surroundings.
“The interaction with the community and the players was very good, very similar to what I would have had down at Boys’ Town,” he said. “So it was similar in a lot of ways and it made the transition very easy,” he added. “Once we were able to get the buy-in of the players as to what we wanted to do with our philosophy and high level of discipline, I think the players understood what we were targeting. And I think we were on the cusp of something special. It was just unfortunate that we weren’t able to complete it.”