TUCKER, St James — Montego Bay United (MBU) have been to the last two finals of the Red Stripe Premier League with contrasting results, and when the 2015-16 season kicks off today they will be one of the teams tipped to challenge for the title come early May.

Montego Bay United were beaten by Arnett Gardens in the last final after demolishing Waterhouse 12 months earlier to win their first title under the MBU name after two previous championships as Seba United.

While the other 11 teams will be focusing on the local competition, American Timothy Hankinson, who will be the third coach in charge in as many seasons, will have his hands full as he prepares the team for two competitions.

Montego Bay United will have two home games to get ready for in the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League and the Red Stripe Premier League

After losing their first two first-round games, both by 3-0 margins away to Unido Arabe in Panama and DC United in Washington, MBU will have their backs against the wall as they seek to end the competition on a high.

The first few games in the Red Stripe Premier League, Hankinson told the Jamaica Observer, would serve dual purposes — get off to a good start, while fine-tuning the team to face DC United in September.

“We are hoping that these early games in the Premier League will give us some games that we can continue to grow as a team. And when we play DC United on September 22, hopefully those games will help us to give a better showing that night,” he said.

The 60-year-old, who has worked in several countries, including India and parts of Central America, said: “We are talking about the importance of continuing to build towards Champions League and these games are vital in that preparation, but we have to rebound as we are coming off two losses in Panama and the US, and it’s important to go out and fight for a win.

“Winning solves many problems, and the issues that we feel and the frustrations can be solved with a good victory on Sunday (today).”

After the two ‘practice games’, winning their first game was crucial, he said. “Particularly since we are at home, whether we play at WesPow or at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, this is Montego Bay and we are Montego Bay United, and we have to play it like it’s a final and set that tone amongst our players that we don’t lose at home.

“This is a place that we have to build that confidence and draw on our fans’ strength, so I hope the people of Montego Bay will rally for us and come out and give us that support for our first match,” he said.

The newcomer to Jamaican club football has not seen Portmore United, who are their first opponents, but he is wary that a tough battle looms.

“I have not seen anything but will be reviewing what we can find… but obviously when you are a division down, and you advance, you have a hungry group, an underdog mentality, but a hungry dog mentality and that can be very dangerous,” said Hankinson.

One of the features of the St James team in their four previous seasons in the league is the core of players they have been able to maintain.

This season will see the most new players coming in at the start of the season as six players have been signed in the off-season, while just one — Ricardo Morris — has returned to Portmore United after spending a few months at MBU, joining the team in the January transfer period.

Hankinson welcomes the new players saying they “give us depth”.

MBU will be without both starting centre halves, Ladale Richie and Cordel Simpson on Sunday, after both were sent off in the final against Arnett Gardens.

“Richie and Simpson will be out with red cards, but we are fortunate that we have players like Winston Wilkinson and John Barrett, who both started at centre back last year, so our depth chart at the centre back position certainly speaks loudly for itself; and without those added players, whether an injury in game or otherwise, we would be struggling at that position and I feel very good about the depth we have.”

While core fitness was still a concern, Hankinson believes things will sort themselves out as the season progresses.

“A season is a long, long journey, and you will hit crises moments where you have injuries and card accumulation, you are going to have a run of bad games and run of good games and what we count on are good competitive character in the footballers, and if we have that, then when we hit the crises we overachieve instead of underachieve,” he said.

Players in — Romario Clarke, Quante Abbot-Hill-Smith, Nicodie Haughton, Kemar Drake, Cory Hylton, and Romaine Bowers.

Players out — Ricardo Morris to Portmore United.