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Maroons aim for top six despite slow prep
October 13, 2022
Chapleton Maroons' coach, Lenworth Hyde, is optimistic they will be in the thick of things at the end of the regular season, although preparations for their Jamaica Premier League (JPL) debut have been slow.
Hyde revealed that at the start of the league, he will be missing 14 schoolboy players, who are currently involved in the daCosta Cup competition, which he argues might hinder their true potential when the season gets under way.
He, however, expects that by January, when they have all their pieces together, they will be truly competitive.
"We are off to a late start but we are gathering and we are picking up. We have a squad now and we will see where we are at, when we play Humble Lion. We are trying our best to get everything together and we hope as the season goes on, we will improve.
"Most of the players are in school, so we have to be looking some players. We will have to wait until D-Cup is finished before we get back 14 players from the squad," Hyde said.
Nevertheless, the players he now has at his disposal will have to suffice until they can reach maximum strength.
These include Jhavier Lynch, Malachi Douglas, Jerome Barclay, Kaheim Dixon and Timar Dunn from last season.
Marlon Pennicooke from Portlanders; Kemar Brown, the top striker from Treasure Beach last season; Osani Ricketts from Mount Pleasant; and Alex Gayle from Falmouth have been added to the squad.
"The players we have will have to do the work. We don't know how many matches we will play before the youths come in, but we will have a break for the World Cup and that definitely will assist us. During that period, we intend to make the most of it by getting in some training and games," he commented.
Hyde, who has national under-15 women's coach Tashawna Vincent as his deputy, believes the squad they have is a decent one and he is eyeing a top-six finish in their first season.
"We want to go top six. We don't want to be playing to stay in the league, so we want to be in the top six and take it from there.
"We will stick with the players we have and get them fitter. I just hope we are not off the pace by January when we get everybody in. We hope we are close to the pack or in the pack, but we think we will be in the top half of the table challenging because we have a very good squad," he said.
