CATHERINE HALL, St James — “Underrate us at your own peril.”

That’s the warning from Aaron Lawrence, coach of ISSA/Wata daCosta Cup semi-finalists Frome Technical as they prepare for next week Thursday’s game against Cornwall College.

Of the four teams remaining in the hunt for the daCosta Cup title, Frome Technical have the least impressive record and is the only team that has lost games in the competition, but Lawrence, the former Reggae Boy goalkeeper, noted this is not an issue to him or his team.

“We don’t mind the ‘underdog’ label,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Saturday after losing their first-round ISSA Champions Cup game against Camperdown High at Montego Bay Sports Complex.

The other semi-finalists who won their first-round zones are Clarendon College — who have a perfect win record in the daCosta Cup, winning all 13 games played, while Cornwall College and Dinthill Technical are unbeaten through 15 games played so far.

Cornwall College, who won their 12th title in 2016, have drawn once this season in the return leg in their first-round against St James High, while Dinthill Technical drew twice against Charlemont High in the first round.

Both Clarendon College and Dinthill Technical lost their first-round games in the Champions Cup, on penalty kicks to Charlie Smith and Holy Trinity, respectively, while Cornwall College beat Wolmer’s Boys’ on penalty kicks.

Frome Technical, in contrast, finished second to last year’s champions Rusea’s High in Zone B in the first round, losing to Rusea’s in the first game in Lucea where they finished with nine players.

They also lost their first-leg game in the second round to Christiana High before rebounding to win at home and advance. They were also beaten 2-1 by Mile Gully in their quarter-final, just edging the Manchester school on the second tiebreaker to make it to the semi-finals for the first time since 2014.

Frome Technical and Mile Gully both ended the quarter-finals tied on six points and a goal difference of two, but Frome scored six goals to Mile Gully’s five and got the edge.

“We have nothing to lose, no pressure at all, let them look at us as the underdogs and we will go out there and put on a good show. We are very focused on the daCosta Cup, not even the Champions Cup compares to that, so we are ready as you saw today. The boys will fight to the end,” Lawrence added.

Despite creating most of the scoring chances, Frome Technical lost 0-1 and Lawrence was left rueing their misses, including a second-half penalty, but said the game would help them to get ready for the semi-finals.

“This game helped us despite the loss,” said Lawrence, who is in his second year at the western Westmoreland school. “We played well. It was a wonderful performance for us and we can look at what we did well here and what we also did wrong and build on them.”

Lawrence said they lost on Saturday in their first-ever Champions Cup outing because, “we didn’t put the chances away, and when you do that then it comes back to haunt you and that is what happened to us — they got one chance and put it away.

“It’s tough luck on our part but we just need to focus on the daCosta Cup semi-final now. I am proud of the boys. It’s their first time here and we did not play too badly and put on a good show; unfortunate that we did not get the victory but that’s how it is.”