Young Cavs on the move - Two of Speid’s charges set to take up overseas contracts in new year

While Cavalier SC managed to get an early Christmas present at a crucial time by defeating second-placed Mount Pleasant 1-0 in their Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) match on Sunday, they will be anticipating their numbers dropping further as two members of the squad are expected, to leave the club when the transfer window opens in January .

Technical Director Rudolph Speid confirmed that the players will be heading to new teams abroad but declined to give any further information about the potential transfers before an official announcement is made.

“We are going to lose two more players in the transfer window in January. We lost three already in the early part of this year,” he told STAR Sports.

Those three players include Jamoi Topey and Nique Daley, who are currently in the United Soccer League (USL), America’s second tier with Bethlehem Steel and Charleston Battery respectively and Kaheem Paris who left in the summer transfer window for Slovenian Club NK Domzale.

Cavalier have struggled with team selections so far this year having not been able to field a full squad due to injuries and suspensions, and although the impending transfers will complicate matters further, Speid believes that the up-and-coming talent from their youth ranks will be able to shine, given time.

“What we are doing is dealing with a next generation of players to come forward. We know that it’s going to take some time for us to really blend these players for them to get the requisite experience. But we know that they are quality. We have a lot of quality players,” he said.

Jamaica College’s Shaniel Thomas scored the only goal of the game on Sunday, to ensure that his side joins Harbour View as the only teams to have defeated Mount Pleasant at Drax Hall this year. The win moves Speid’s team back into the top six with 25 points, tied with Dunbeholden, who also won on the weekend but have an inferior goal difference. The turnaround after two straight defeats was not a surprise to Speid, having not lost faith in his team’s ability to come back. He credited the work they did after the 3-2 defeat to Tivoli last Monday.

“That is why I wasn’t worried. I always believed that we would get back into the playoffs[top six],” he said.

“We did a lot of work in the last week after we lost to Tivoli and we realised against Mount Pleasant, we couldn’t put a foot wrong. All the players brought their A game and that is what was able to carry us home.”

Cavalier will host league leaders Waterhouse at Stadium East on Sunday.