UWI preparing for life in the lower leagues

The University of the West Indies Football Club has all but confirmed their relegation to the lower leagues as they went down 3-1 to Portmore United in their Red Stripe Premier League encounter at the UWI Bowl yesterday.

Goals from Rondee Smith in the 22nd minute, Ricardo Morris in the 35th and Lamar Walker in time added on, condemned the scholars to their fifth straight loss as they remain in 11th position at the bottom of the Premier league table on 18 points, same as Vere United with four matches to go.

For UWI to play in the Premier League next season, they will have to win all their remaining games and hope that 10th-place team Molynes United on 29 points lose all their remaining games.

It was not business as usual on the UWI bench as head coach Andrew Peart was seen sitting with the players while technical director Max Straw issued out the instructions from the technical area.

Keep the boys motivated

In his post-match interview, Straw said the aim is to keep the boys motivated as the season draws to an end.

"It's not the end of the world, this is not about now, we have to organise ourselves if we get relegated, we made mistakes from early on in the season and we are paying for it now, we are going to fight to the end because if you look at it, Portmore got relegated and came up and win so we will keep going," said Straw.

Straw pinpointed that improper planning cost the team dearly which resulted in the team achieving just two wins in 29 games. With fixtures against Vere United, Dunbeholden, Harbour View and Humble Lion to come, Straw said he will be exposing some more players to close out the season.

"What we are actually doing now is exposing more of our student players to this level so that next year we can depend on a larger pool of players," he said.