In 2002-03 season of the Premier League Rohan Nelson banged home 30 goals, setting the standard for the competition for years to come.

Today, that record still stands but strangely enough, Nelson has not gained the respect of fans of the game. When he came on for Jamaica, recently, many asked where he was going? Why was he in a national jersey? However, those questions come from the shortened memories of overweight dreamers in the stands.

Lest it be forgotten, Nelson not only dominated the Jamaica’s premier league but went to Trinidad and Tobago’s Joe Public, where even after struggling with some weight issues, he was good enough to not only be the club’s top striker but the competition’s leading marksman as well.

Nelson does not understand what it means to quit as his dip in form when he returned to the premier league in 2006 never deterred him and he was soon off to Trinidad once again.

While there he once again struck form and on his return to the league here in Jamaica this season, he has again looked awesome.

The burly striker played against Costa Rica last night but never got much purchase from his few minutes on the pitch. I did note, however, that his touch looked sharp and he was moving off the ball well. As a matter of fact, his movement opened gaps that provided the midfielder behind him, Wolry Wolfe, with opportunities to score.

This is what he will bring to the Premier League chances of Portmore United, and as a matter of fact, the blue and white brigade, has been attacking with much more purpose since Nelson’s influence on the team.

Nelson’s return to the league was marked by four goals against August Town at the University of the West Indies playfield. He hasn’t returned to that destructive form but he did score against Reno recently and has been allowing other players on the pitch to benefit from the attention he requires of his markers.

It is important to note though, that the diminutive striker is just that. He is a goal poacher in every sense of the word. While in Trinidad, completing a four-year stint with Joe Public, he scored somewhere in the region of 115 goals. It must be remembered that some of that time; Nelson was playing with Portmore United. That awesome record isn’t something new, as the striker has scored over 400 goals in his career.

At the manning cup level he achieved acclaim as a goalscorer as well, netting 31 goals in the 1998 season for Dunoon Technical High School. His goalscoring feats have also come with titles. The year he scored 30 goals in the Premier League, Portmore United were crowned champions and the year he scored 31 goals in the Manning Cup, Dunoon earned their only schoolboy title.

What is scary is that Nelson is now more mature and sensible about his football and in an interview with the Gleaner recently, he indicated that he saw the sport most people love as a serious job. Nelson has said his sole purpose is to bring Portmore goals and if he has a season anything close to the one he had in 2002-03 Portmore would have to really work hard not to win another coveted title.

ntry can break him.