Dixon keeps faith in young players

Coach Linval Dixon is keeping faith that his young core of players will be able to rise to the occasion and turn things around, despite Vere United having goalscoring problems, which has prevented them from winning matches and already placed them in the relegation battle.

In their final Jamaica Premier League (JPL) game of the year, Vere drew 1-1 with Arnett Gardens on Monday and will enter the new year in 13th place with four points.

Vere and Faulkland FC are the only teams in the league yet to win a game this season. Vere have scored only twice, the least amount of goals so far and although they have only conceded seven, Dixon is acknowledging their attacking deficiencies, while looking to turn the tide as the January transfer window approaches.

"We knew that it (goal) is hard to come by. So what we want to do is to get the young players and give them some time, not much time but some time to get their feet wet in the league and try to score some goals. Even our youngsters (against Arnett Gardens) did very well."

"We will always continue bank on them and give them some more opportunities and hopefully, we can get some goals," Dixon told STAR Sports.

Vere are three points ahead of Faulkland FC who are rooted to the bottom with just one point from seven games.

Vere have held their own in the majority of the seven matches as they drew 1-1 with Tivoli Gardens, 0-0 with Portmore United, 0-0 with Montego Bay United and 1-1 with Arnett while losing 3-0 to Cavalier, 1-0 to Waterhouse and 1-0 to Molynes.

Dixon is, however, preparing the fight for survival in the new year, as he argues that dropping points will not be an option.

"We are looking at it seriously because we know that we have to win games, we just can't be drawing games. Yes, one point is better than none but we know that we have to start lighting up the board now.

"We have to start collecting three points and hopefully come the next game, we can sort out all of those attacking errors and get some goals. We just have to keep on knocking and working and hopefully, we can score more goals as we go along," Dixon said.

Vere will face the high-riding Humble Lion on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at the Wembley Centre of Excellence in Clarendon. Humble Lion will enter the match on three consecutive wins, against Montego Bay, Arnett and Tivoli.