Humble Lions operating on small margins, says Price
HUMBLE Lions began and ended match week 18 in the Jamaica Premier League in eigth place, but saw their chances of play-off football get that much smaller following their 0-0 draw with Harbour View FC on Sunday.
Things got even more difficult after Tivoli Gardens took full advantage of that slip-up with a 3-1 beating of Molynes United on Monday night.
Technical Director Andrew Price put on a brave face after his team registered their league-leading ninth draw of the season on Sunday.
“Yes, I am a little bit disappointed, but I can’t fault the players for their effort. I think they gave a good effort; they put in a good shift. We need to be a bit more clinical in front of goal.
“Defensively, we had a good shape, our goalkeeper didn’t have any trouble and we just needed to be more clinical when we went forward.”
Neither team did very much in front of goal as both goalkeepers had what was probably their easiest game between the sticks this term. Humble Lions did have a couple of glimpses late on that they failed to convert either into real goal-scoring opportunities.
“I think Harbour View had more possession in the first half. In the second half, I think we turned it up a notch and with those three changes, I believe it brought a lot of energy to the team and we looked to see if we could push the initiative in the last 20 minutes of the game and we got some good looks.
“Probably Levaughn Williams should have put away one of those two [chances] but it is one of those things,” Price said.
Humble Lions are now seven points outside of the play-off positions, but Price has refused to give up on the idea of making it into the top six.
“We have to continue fighting, the margins are very small, so whenever we get the opportunitites, we have to put them away.
“It doesn’t really trouble it. It just makes it that much harder for us to get into the top six, but it is still our goal and we still have game where we can make the difference and to see if we can get into the top six.
“We are going to continue to work hard and to continue to see if we can pick up points along the way and see how far it leaves us.”
The next game for Humble Lions will not be an easy one as it will be the Clarendon derby against a Vere United team that will have their tails up having gone three games unbeaten for the first time this season.
Anything less than three points from this encounter for Humble Lions will certainly put paid to football beyond the regular season for Price and his boys.