Cephas taking analytical approach to scoring

Arnett Gardens' Renaldo Cephas says that he has taken a more analytical approach to his game, which may have put him in contention for a national call-up.

Cephas, the Jamaica Premier League STAR of Week 21, scored a brace in Arnett Gardens' 3-1 win over rivals Tivoli Gardens on Sunday to guarantee themselves a place in the playoffs. Cephas has scored 10 goals this year and he says that the change in his preparation has been the key to his production this year.

"I have been thinking out the game more and training harder in order to deliver more often at certain levels," he said. "I know that defenders plan for me. For me to go out there and deliver, I train twice as hard as the next team trains for me.

"Last season, I would play a game and just go home and say that game gone. But this season now, after a game I have to literally think it out and I have to sit down with myself and say 'What I can do to get the team better and make myself better?' Because I always want to score."

Cephas has enjoyed scoring against rivals Tivoli this season, with three goals in their two meetings. It is those fierce battles that he relishes, in being the main point of the attack and delivering in the crucial moments.

"With the rivalry between Tivoli and Arnett Gardens, you have to deliver in those games," he said. "Because the best player has to step up in those games."

His play has not gone noticed as interim Jamaica senior men's football team head coach Paul Hall said on Tuesday after Jamaica's 3-1 win against Suriname that he was "unlucky" not to get called up for the Nations League campaign, However, Cephas says it has fuelled him to continue improving, believing that a call-up is within his reach.

"I have to keep working and just wait on my turn because it is not far," he said. "The door is not far. So I have to keep knocking on the door until it finally opens."