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Treasure Beach eye daCosta Cup talent
December 30, 2022
St Elizabeth-based Treasure Beach Football Club are fine-turning preparations for more favourable results when the island's tier two competition kicks off next month, after narrowly missing out on a spot in the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) this season.
President Paul Bernard believes Treasure Beach's players are eagerly anticipating the new season to correct their wrongs and feature in the JPL for the first time since their inception.
"The boys are eager and are raring to go for the next season. When they looked and saw how close they came last season, they were beating themselves as 10 per cent more effort and they would have made it to the final and possibly be in the JPL," said Bernard.
Treasure Beach FC were beaten 6-3 on aggregate at the semifinal stage by the Lenworth Hyde-coached Chapelton Maroons. For Bernard, the horrors of coming so close are still fresh in his mind as the team allowed a JPL berth to slip through their fingers.
"We scored 18 goals in 11 matches and 11 goals were scored on us, so defensively we were about a goal per match. The team that won the competition was Faulkland FC and we were the only team who defeated them for the season. We defeated them 3-0 at Faulkland, so with a little more effort and resources we would be at the Premier League at this time," Bernard added.
Bernard, for the upcoming season, is optimistic that they could find success with young talents, who featured recently in the rural area schoolboy daCosta Cup competition.
"We are looking to start some trials and look at persons from other clubs, who are interested. We are looking at the younger players though. We had our executives looking at some daCosta Cup matches and they were out scouting for some young talents from the schools in and around St Elizabeth," Bernard said.
As for the support given to Jamaica's tier two league, Bernard believes the competition needs more time to grow into a better structure.
"Last season was the first year. So, with anything, you're going to have challenges and teething issues and some persons are not in favour of the tier two. KSAFA didn't even participate. Even within our group we have issues getting sponsors, and we were getting by day-by-day," Bernard stated.
