MAY PEN, Clarendon — New Humble Lion head coach Vassell Reynolds said he’s targeting the highest possible finish in this season’s Red Stripe Premier League.

Reynolds, who’s also the coach of Manning Cup team Wolmer’s Boys’, takes over at Effortville from Donovan Duckie, whose contractual obligations with daCosta Cup outfit Manchester High has kept him away from the Humble Lion technical area since guiding them to a third-place finish last season.

It is, however, understood that a disagreement with club president Mike Henry is what led to Duckie’s departure.

Reynolds, a former Sporting Central Academy coach, took charge on Saturday, 11 games into the season, with Humble Lion occupying third place on 18 points — six adrift of leaders Montego Bay United.

He said his mandate is to build on their creditable start to the campaign.

“This is a team that narrowly missed out on the final last season and have retained most of the players, so the aim is to win the league. Or to at least go one better,” said Reynolds.

But, at the moment, Reynolds said his main priority is to improve Humble Lion’s poor goalscoring return. While they boast the second best defensive record, conceding only eight goals in 12 outings, Humble Lion possess the third worst attack in the league, scoring a mere nine goals.

“It is a concern,” admitted Reynolds, “and it is something that we have been working on. But at the same time we are probably the best defensive team, so we also have to ensure that we find a balance.

Because we want to continue making it difficult for teams to score against.”

“But, yes,” he added, “if we are going to win the league we will need to have people scoring 10-15 goals. And we have the players who can do that, so we think we will eventually get it right, because we are creating a lot of chances.”

That much was evident on Sunday night as Humble Lion opened their second-round account with 0-0 draw against FC Reno. They created a number of chances, with veteran midfielder Wolry Wolfe even missing a first-half penalty after striking his shot against the upright.

FC Reno, who won the corresponding first-round game 1-0, can also count themselves unfortunate to have left Clarendon with only a point after the Westmoreland side hit the cross-bar twice from dead ball situations.

The result means Reno, now on 15 points, moved up two places to sixth, while Humble Lion moved to within five points of league leaders Montego Bay United, but slipped to fourth on 19 points.