By Neto Baptiste
The Parham football team is determined to fight to the end as it seeks to avoid relegation from the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association’s (ABFA) Premier Division.
This is according to coach and former national player, Rowan Isaac, who said despite the team’s horrid run in the competition thus far, both players and officials remain optimistic of staying in the competition they have won five times.
“The players are still in it and when they come off the field they are saying that it is still possible. So you are getting encouragement from outside but greater encouragement is coming from the players because they know they are putting in the work and as long as it is not mathematically impossible, then it is possible,” he said.
Parham remain the only team in the competition without a win following 12 rounds of matches. They occupy the cellar with just six points, having allowed 25 goals while scoring 13 times.
Isaac remained confident in his team’s ability to outplay opponents at the Antigua Recreation Grounds (ARG) but added that an obvious and key component of their game has been disappointing thus far.
“If you have been watching the games you would see that our play is something to be commended but just that we are not finishing and when a team can average at least five clear chances per game and not putting them home and then the opponents will get one or two and send them home then you really can’t win that way and it’s not to say that we are not doing the work. The players can testify of the work that the technical committee have been putting in with regards to the players,” he said.
As for morale, Isaac said players and fans alike are still giving 100 percent at training sessions as they hold onto hope of a miraculous turnaround in their final six matches.
“The numbers are still high where we can play a nine vs nine, or sometimes we have players where we could play 11 v 11. The guys are still coming out to training, the guys are still positive but everybody just needs to buckle down, settle down and concentrate a little bit more,” the former striker said. Parham won the top flight title in 2001/2, 2002/3, 2010/11, 2014/15 and 2016/17.