Humble Lion's Vanzie leading from the front
Published:Friday | August 6, 2021 | 12:10 AM- Livingston Scott/Gleaner Writer -
Humble Lion registered their first win of the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) season last weekend, coming from behind to beat Waterhouse 2-1. Fittingly, one of their leading players, midfielder Andrew Vanzie, was the one who scored both goals to give the Clarendon side victory.
Since the start of the season, the 30-year-old Vanzie has been a stand-out in all of Humble Lion's matches.
He said being a senior player in the team, he has taken on a lot more responsibility this season and admitted that he was frustrated that his and the team's efforts were futile in the first five matches. Consequently, he said they all decided they were not going to go six games without a winning result.
"We came out this season and had a bad start and we decided that we wanted to get all three points against Waterhouse," Vanzie admitted. "I felt bad because our efforts were not producing results and I knew I could do a lot more. But I still tried to motivate the guys and push them to carry the fight.
"I have to give God thanks and all my teammates who gave 110 per cent. Also the coaching staff prepared us well. They motivate me in training, push me to build and work on my game and I did go out and scored two beautiful goals that gave my team the victory," he continued.
"You have to lead from the front as a senior player, help them, push them, build them. I try to let them know that it makes no sense going into games without practising your skills. It all starts in training and carry over into the matches," Vanzie added.
"We looked into ourselves and said that we could not lose six straight, so we dug deep, and we got the result. We got three points, and we are satisfied with that," he said.
In the game at weekend, Waterhouse took the lead through Colorado Murray.
However, Vanzie equalised with a crisp volley two minutes afterwards.
The national midfielder then calmly converted a penalty on 43 minutes to put his team in front, and they held on for the win.
The club remains at the bottom of the JPL standings with three points, the same as Molynes United, their next opponents.
"The win has boosted the players a lot. They are pumped and ready to play Humble Lion football," Vanzie shared. "On Saturday, we have our next game against Molynes, and we need to continue where we left off. We got three points last week, so we are going to push on from there and build on what we have and move forward," he continued.
The team will be strengthened with the addition of veteran national midfielder Je-Vaughn Watson, who recently signed up with the club after a lengthy career in the United States' Major League Soccer (MLS).
"Je-Vaughn Watson will join the team. He is an experienced player, a national representative, like me. We will have to get the other players going from the get-go," said Vanzie. "We have a lot of young talent, but they need to push themselves, motivate and dedicate themselves more and don't shy away."