Ambusley racking up minutes for MBU

Vassell Reynolds, coach of Red Stripe Premier League outfit Montego Bay United (MBU), said it was never his plan for his assistant coach Dwayne Ambusley to be playing so many minutes this season, but pointed out that given the team's lack of depth, his experience is crucial.

Ambusley, 38 years old, played the full 90 minutes in MBU's last two Monday Night games that they drew 0-0 against Reno and Arnett Gardens, before playing over 60 minutes in yesterday's 3-1 loss to UWI FC at WesPow Park in Montego Bay.

"The plan has always been to bring him into certain key games. We have been consistently starting four or five youngsters in each game, so we need that stability and leadership that is always required out there," said Reynolds.

"I don't want to burden Ambusley as a player but it's going to be instrumental that we have him giving us some good shifts in some of the games," he added.

"He hasn't shown any signs of wear and tear, I thought he held up much better than I had planned. My plan was not to have him playing for 90 minutes. However, based on the run of the two games, we had to keep that experience out there beside Kirlew to sort of keep that stability, especially in midfield."

Ambusley is also the assistant coach of last year's daCosta Cup champions Rusea's High School, who were dumped out of the competition in the second round this season. When asked if he believes that has helped Ambusley to focus more on his role as a player-coach at MBU, Reynolds told STAR Sports that he is always involved as a player.

"Obviously, it's less work in terms of our responsibility, although we still have the two youth teams who are still in the under-14 and -16 competitions, who we still are spending a lot of time with. Ambusley has always participated in the training both as coach and player, so at any given time, he could give us a 45 to 60 minutes.

However, as he has been showing in the past two games, he gave us 90 minutes against quality opposition," said Reynolds.