Brown’s Town High’s initial goal in the upcoming ISSA daCosta Cup schoolboy football competition is to advance from the preliminary round for the first time in two seasons, according to coach Tyrone Codner.

Brown’s Town, who usually play in the competitive St Ann group, missed out on advancing last season when they needed a win in their final group game. But they lost 0-1 to Ferncourt High, who finished second behind group winners Ocho Rios High.

If Brown’s Town advance from the first round this season, they will earn a place in the first round of the Ben Francis Cup and the second round of the daCosta Cup.

Codner told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday that the team’s preseason preparation has been mostly satisfactory.

“It’s a work in progress; I would say fairly decent. We are seeing some of what we are looking for,” he said, adding that they have had some quality practice matches which he believes will make them better when the competition begins.

“The better the opposition, the harder they will work and then it will only give the boys belief going into the season,” he noted.

Brown’s Town, who are not among the seeded teams, will begin their campaign on the opening match day. Codner welcomed that, saying he prefers that his side will get competitive games before facing the top teams.

“I would say that it is a good thing starting to play early. Starting late is not always good, because teams could gather momentum, and then you are starting the season when teams are already up and running,” he explained.

“On the other hand the teams that are coming in late, they’ll have a longer preseason, which could also lead to injuries and so on. So, I don’t really have a problem with starting to play early and get a good start,” he added.

This season Brown’s Town will compete in Group C, alongside Discovery Bay High, Ferncourt High, Marcus Garvey Technical, Walkerswood Academy, York Castle High and Cedric Titus High.

The Brown’s Town head coach said his team has taken lessons from last season’s disappointment.

“We fell short on the last match of the group. We needed to win to advance, and we ended up losing one-nil. But we had some serious injuries last year that hampered our season… we were in a very tough zone.”

He believes Brown’s Town have more experience and are better prepared this season. But he expects another tightly-contested first round.

“If we do what we should do, then we should be all right. I mean, it is still going to be competitive based on what I would have seen in the Under-16 competition, because the Under-16 group was very close. We had three teams coming out, and it was very close going right into the last day, so I expect it to be close again,” he reasoned.