Vere look to dominate bottom-of-the-table clash

Jamaica Premier League (JPL) strugglers Vere United and Montego Bay United square off in a bottom-of-the-table clash at Drax Hall this afternoon at 1 p.m. and Vere’s coach Donovan Duckie is banking on recent acquisitions to push his team to a top-six finish.

In the day’s other game, Tivoli Gardens and Cavalier meet at 3.15 p.m.

Vere are 10th in the standings, ahead of 11th-place Molynes on goal difference and two points in front of Montego Bay at the foot of the standings.

In all but one of their six defeats, Vere have lost by the odd goal and Duckie believes that, if they can be more effective in the final third, it would compensate for their inexperience in defence.

“When you have inexperienced players, you are going to make mistakes, especially at the back. We have an inexperienced goalkeeper and an inexperienced centre back and we are not going to knock them. We still have some time to get it together without playing the ultimate price of relegation. So it is an opportune time to give them some experience. But, after the experience, you want to see positive results but it is because of the inexperience why we haven’t been able to achieve what we want at the moment,” he pointed out.

“We are losing one-zero, two-one in consecutive games. We can improve our position if we are able to score. So that is something that we need to improve. So, if we make certain mistakes, we can consolidate,” he said.

Vere acquired defender Shevaughn Robb from Humble Lion, goalkeeper Shaquan Davis from Mount Pleasant, and striker Bebeto McDonald from Arnett Gardens, and Duckie is hoping these players can improve the areas in which they have been coming up short.

“Our activity in the transfer window was nothing major but we are hoping that these players can help us to improve our position now for us to make a move in the second round.

“Two or three wins can move us up in terms of the top six. It’s for us to be positive and try to accumulate some points, but we have to first stop conceding goals and then we can work from there” he said.

Meanwhile, Montego Bay’s coach Leacroft Lettman thinks his team can build on the draw they earned against Harbour View in their previous match.

However, he is wary of Vere and their coach, Duckie.

“Vere have a tactical coach and we have to look carefully at what he is coming with and try to readjust very fast and try to adapt to the situations as the game goes on,” he said.

Lettman has been in charge for three weeks and, even though the players are still learning about his methods, he said the camp is very positive.

“We are just trying to get the guys to believe and carry out the simple tasks and, once we are able to understand the roles and functions, we will be able to capitalise.

“I was pleased with their performance (last game), their understanding, their awareness was up to par and their fighting spirit was there right to the end.

“We just need to get into the final third and get off some more shots and try to keep what we have for longer periods,” he said.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com