Nicholas McCreath has for a long time been under the radar in the Premier League. First at Harbour View two years ago and even before that, he would come onto the field and in a very unassuming manner and go about the business of picking apart his opponents.

A former Kingston College student, Nicholas McCreath was more than a feared striker and funny enough he can’t be more than 5’ 6” tall. Feared he was though. Today, the teams that play against him are aware of his prowess and show him a healthy respect.

He’s never been one of those players that scores 20 or 30 goals in a season, but he scores big goals, important goals, and the kind of goals that help teams win a season.

As a matter of fact, so highly respected as a player has the young man been that when he was in college he made the All-American lineup every year he played.

When he came back to Jamaica to ply his trade in the Premier League I hoped he would have excelled and become one of those players who are household names.

That has not happened. Instead, the young man, though playing well, just never commanded the respect of his coach at Harbour View. Instead the coach preferred big names like Fabian Taylor and Jamaica’s brightest hope in over 10 years, Luton Shelton.

From there he went to Tivoli Gardens where he enjoyed some brilliant moments but again was overshadowed by bigger named forwards, like Christopher Nicholas and Roland Dean.

Now the diminutive attacker has found himself at August Town. The team, playing in only their second season of top-flight football, has found the going tough.

However, the experience and smarts that McCreath has brought to their game has meant they have a fighting chance.

Last season, August Town did very well; however, two teams have come to the Premier League this time around that threaten their safety in the competition.

St. Georges of Portland and Sporting Central of Clarendon have come to play and if August Town is to survive ahead of any of these teams, McCreath’s input will be invaluable.

What does he bring to the table? Well for the first time McCreath is the player to go to. For the first time since he was in college, he is the player that will be depended on to do well. He hasn’t played that role for a long time and I expect him to take some time to adapt to that. However, I think he is a good enough player to do so and do so well. Let me tell you why. McCreath is one of the few strikers in Jamaica, who isn’t purely instinctual. He doesn’t just have an eye for goal or knack for being in the right place at the right time and he has that. But has something else.

McCreath is in fact a thinker. He plots much the same way a chess player plans the demise of his opponent at the other end of a table and he’s good at it. Watching him play for 90 minutes you can actually see him develop over time, the way he thinks it best to break down his opposition’s back line.

If he stays healthy and gets it into his head that he has to take on more responsibility in his new team, this article won’t be the only one to put him in the SPOTLIGHT.