Austin has thirst for goals

Audley Boyd, Assistant Editor - Sport

SAINTE-LUCE, Martinique:

THE man marshalling Jamaica's play from the centre of the pitch, Rodolph Austin, wants to add another crucial component to his game.

Austin has been key to the Reggae Boyz play in recent years, directing traffic from the central midfield position and breaking up a lot of attacks as well.

Controlling the tempo of the Jamaicans' play is another key aspect of his function and he has among his attributes, pace and a fine range of passes, both short and long and with either foot.

What he also packs is a tremendous kick and with it comes an expectation for some booming goals.

The last time he scored for Jamaica was during a friendly international against Trinidad and Tobago in the twin-island republic, that the Reggae Boyz won 3-1. That goal was a penalty, given after Ryan Johnson had been taken down.

However, the goals have not been coming at the rate he would have wanted and Austin is determined to make a change.

"It's something I've been thinking about for a long-time now because every match I play I should be shooting more and trying to get some scoring chances," said Austin, who has been designated as the lone central midfielder, at least for the start, during the Digicel Caribbean Cup Finals in Martinique.

Central midfield

Within the past two years, Austin has become accustomed to playing the central midfield role in partnership with Jason Morrison and Richard 'Shortman' Edwards.

Edwards is here with the squad, but Morrison is back in Belgium with his club, because of a niggling injury. So Austin, for now, will have to soldier it out on his own.

It's a job he's only too willing to handle and looking to fine tune with conversions from his cannonball drives.

"We're the defending champions and I'll just have to shoot when I get the chance and if I get free kicks I'll just have to shoot and score," noted Austin, who is also the team's dead-ball specialist.

Additional inspiration

He represents SK Brann in the Norwegian first division and they did not do well this season, so that is providing additional inspiration for Austin to do better.

"We didn't do well in my club season," he admitted. "I have the opportunity now to come back and redeem myself with the team here in the Caribbean Cup. We came here for the win and we will just go out there and apply ourselves and try our best."

Austin may yet play a key role in that quest, should he satisfy his goal to reel off some more shots. If he gets them on target, it could well provide Jamaica with the additional dimension Austin seeks from his game to boost Jamaica's cause for goals and the Digicel Caribbean Cup.