ST JAMES, Jamaica — After creating school history last year, getting past the first round of the ISSA rural area daCosta Cup football competition for the first time, Maldon High’s Head Coach Dillon Thelwell is eager to improve on that performance.

During the last campaign, Maldon High earned a hard fought 1-1 result against Green Pond High on the final day of the regular season to edge them on goal-difference for second place in Zone A. Both teams ended on 19 points, behind zone winners Cornwall College.

St James-based Maldon, however, managed just a point from three games to exit the competition in the second round.

Thelwell expects this season to be better.

“When you do well in the previous season, the success makes you a target so we are not expecting things to be easy,” he noted.

Preparation for this season, which is scheduled to begin next month, has not been easy, he said.

On Saturday, Maldon lost twice in the Montego Bay United schoolboys football invitational competition at Montego Bay Sports Complex. They were edged 0-1 in the semi-finals by Frome Technical after losing their first-round opening game 0-4 to eventual champions Cornwall College.

He said they were having difficulties getting all their players to participate in pre-season training.

“We are trying to get the team together to gel as one. We still have, like 70 per cent of the guys in camp, and we are still waiting on the others to be more consistent but once the season starts, we hope to take it one game at a time and build a momentum,” he explained.

Maldon High retained half of their squad from last year, Thelwell told the Jamaica Observer.

“[There are] a lot of youngsters, so we are trying to rebuild and try to surpass what we did last season,” he noted.

Vitally, they have retained national junior representative Javaughn Anglin, who has played for Premier League team Montego Bay United as a midfielder, and captain Kevin Hawthorne. They are two players who could make a difference in their 2025 campaign.

“We have to approach the season as a tournament and take it one game at a time. Hopefully, we can get past the second round this time and move up. That’s the plan,” Thelwell said.

— Paul A Reid

Javaughn Anglin of Maldon High (Photo: Paul Reid)