As a schoolboy, Fabian Watkins was an awesome player for Excelsior High School.

As a matter of fact, Watkins almost single handedly won them a Manning Cup in 1993 after he used real tenacity and an unwillingness to give up to score a golden goal against Wolmer’s in a final where they, looked outclassed in the first instance. Watkins went even further in his final year of schoolboy football, winning the Walker Cup and sharing the All-Island Olivier Shield title with Ruseas.

Watkins hasn’t changed much really. To this day he has continued to be a leader and has continued to come up big when it matters most.

As an older player he has gone further and further back toward his own goal in terms of position, but his importance on any team has never been a question.

Playing for Constant Spring, Watkins, year after year, came up trumps when the team needed to avoid relegation. When it finally happened, and given Constant Spring’s financial status, they were bound to be relegated at some point, Watkins moved to Boys’ Town.

At Boys’ Town he was no longer the captain but he immediately earned a starting position. Not in midfield anymore, Watkins now ensures that nobody get by him down Boys’ Town’s left side.

At left-back, Watkins showed, not for the first time, that he could play any position. Without the pace he used to have, Watkins has become more and more conservative in his play, but no less careful than he was before and no less understanding of the role of each individual in a team’s victory.

Since moving to Boys’ Town, Davis has proven himself invaluable and over the last three years has stuck with the younger players on the team through their ups and downs. In their first season Boys’ Town were spectacular and in their second they were terrible, and in this they have been both.

However, they have been good enough to pull themselves from mid-table and at one stage, closer to the bottom, to third in the league.

That position, though due in large part to the exploits of their attacking unit, could not have been achieved without the defensive discipline of Watkins and his acute knowledge of when to slow down the game.

The question is, can Fabian continue to play at the high level he is for another season? I go as far as speaking about another season because with just five games to go in the fourth round it is unlikely that Boys’ Town will rise above third. Second is a possibility but that will depend on Tivoli losing three out of five games. What is more likely is that a team below them, Harbour View or Waterhouse, might put some pressure on them. So it’s on to next season, a season where Boys’ Town’s fortunes might depend on how well Fabian can play, how he manages to maintain his fitness and how well he keeps his focus. He hasn’t had a problem with these in the past so Boys’ Town should be just as competitive next year.