Lawes ready for tough task
Published:Wednesday | November 4, 2020 | 12:15 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Newly appointed Waterhouse captain Shawn Lawes’ first game in the new role will see him leading the club in an uphill task to qualify for the Concacaf League quarter-finals, when they face off against Arachaie of Haiti in their Round-of-16 tie at Stadium East tomorrow starting 6 p.m.
However, despite not playing any competitive football in seven months and losing key senior players in the off season, the national defender is confident that with a positive attitude and mental fortitude, the team can progress to the next stage.
“It’s an honour to be captain of a massive club like Waterhouse,” Lawes told The Gleaner. “But it’s not so much about me, each player needs to be a leader on the field.”
“It has been seven months now we haven’t played any football due to the COVID-19 virus and to not play for seven months is real tough, but my job is to keep the team focused and get the mindset back up for football.
“It’s a tough task but I am more than willing to take on this job. We just have to be professionals, stay humble, be positive and train our minds and we can get the job done,” he continued.
HUGE LOSS
Lawes, who joined Waterhouse in 2017 after stints with Barbican, Cavalier and Reno, admitted that the departure of former club captain Keithy Simpson, stalwart midfielder Tremaine Stewart and first-choice goalkeeper Diego Haughton to Dunbeholden is a huge loss.
However, with signings like Fabian McCarthy, Rohan Beetle and Roshane Sharpe from UWI and Ryan Wellington from Portmore, Lawes believes the club will do just fine without them.
“What Tremaine, Keithy and Diego brought to the team was tremendous, they are great players and I wish them all the best, but Fabian McCarthy is an exceptional player, also Roshane Sharpe and Ryan Wellington. Coach (Marcel Gayle) went in the market and did his best and we have some good players and we are confident and looking forward to the game,” he added.
Despite the enormity of the task at hand, the defender is confident victory can be theirs tomorrow.
“We are going for the double (two goals) and a clean sheet and we are fully confident but we are not there as yet, we still have some work to do. We are confident of what we can do because we reached the quarter-finals last year and just fell short and we intend to go even better this year, as we are eyeing the title, but we have to take it one game at a time,” he said.
The winner of tomorrow’s game will advance to the last eight of the competition, where they will face the winner of the Tauro (Panama) versus Forge FC (Canada) tie on a date to be announced.