A long way to go

Despite Molynes United registering their second win of the Legend Jamaica Premier League season, Head Coach Jermaine Thomas says there is still plenty of work to be done if they are to become more competitive this season. Molynes ended a miserable four-game losing streak on Monday with a 1-0 victory over last season’s finalists Cavalier FC at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex. Oquassa Chong, who joined from relegated Harbour View FC last summer, scored his second goal of the season in the 18th minute, which turned out to be the winner. The victory marked the second time Molynes have beaten Cavalier in the past year, having lost 14 of their previous 16 meetings. Thomas was pleased with his team’s effort throughout the contest. “It’s a big one, we needed this one,” he said. “We have been working hard all week and I really want to commend the team. I thought they really fought gallantly. We got our early goal, we really planned for it, we got it and we defended it. We created one or two more opportunities, we never took them but such is football and I’m really happy for the team.” Since their promotion in 2019, Molynes have virtually battled relegation every season, including the last two when their survival was confirmed in the final match week. Thomas, though, is hoping Monday’s victory can give them some momentum to stay in the top half of the table. “It takes a solid backroom staff, it takes effort from everybody — the roles and levels are going to be important. We are going to celebrate this but it is going to be short-lived, I can promise that, we’ll get back to the training pitch and we’re going to work again,” he said. Cavalier, who are seventh with seven points, are now winless in their last three games, having won their opening two games of the season. They also crashed out of the group stage of the 2026 Concacaf Caribbean Cup, finishing bottom of the five-team group with no wins and no goals scored. Assistant Coach David Laylor believes their lack of offensive output is a major problem. “We’re just not scoring goals and that is something we have been working with from the season start, trying to get players to score goals. We are short on goal scorers and that’s just really what happened tonight, we didn’t score and they get an opportunity [through] a free kick and they scored and defended the one goal,” he said. Laylor says they also have to address their defensive frailties, having conceded in all their games so far. “That’s something we have to fix. About eight goals have been scored on us from the season and that’s not good for Cavalier. So at the end of the day we need to fix what’s happening at the back and try to fix at the front at the same time, so we have work to do.” In the other Monday encounter, Racing United were held to a goalless draw by Waterhouse, who played over 75 minutes with 10 men after Roshawn Amos was sent off in the 15th minute. Waterhouse Head Coach Donovan Duckie believes his team deserves a lot of credit for maintaining their unbeaten start to the season through six games. “We had to be courageous, we had to be brave and even when we were afraid we still had to be brave,” he said. “It was more [about] mentality for us, it was a true test of defensive masterclass and the guys were up for it and I’m very proud of them. It’s very important that we continue to push the mentality on these players and let them understand and believe that they can do it and they can overcome. “It was an early red card, it set us back in terms of our game plan. We weren’t able to press high again so we had to surrender almost half of the field. I’m very proud of the guys, they worked tirelessly in training, they worked tirelessly tonight, and I thought we also could have won the game twice or three times but kudos to the guys and we are grateful for the point.” Waterhouse move to third on 12 points, one behind Racing United who stay second on 13 points. Montego Bay United continue to lead the league with 14 points.