Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

HAVING NOT seen any action since the competition's opening day, when they clipped neighbours Manning's 1-0, champions Godfrey Stewart High School will be back on show in the 2006 ISSA/Pepsi/JN daCosta Cup this afternoon when they battle Petersfield in a Zone C fixture in Savanna-la-Mar.

"Although we have high expectations for this team, our plan is to take it one game at a time," said Godfrey Stewart's coach, Carl Palmer. "We always try to prepare ourselves well for each game because we always want to be at our best, regardless of the opponent."

In addition to the Godfrey Stewart's game, today's fixture, which will feature another 21 games spanning eight of the 12 zones, should see other top-flight clashes including the Zone A match between front-runners Maldon and second-place Herbert Morrison, the Zone E showdown between third-place Lacovia and leaders St. Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) and the top-of-the-table Zone I clash between Glenmuir and Kemps Hill.

With early Zone C leaders Grange Hill flexing their muscles after taking maximum points from Maud McLeod and Manning's, the Godfrey Stewart team should be gunning for a big win against Petersfield which would see them join inactive Grange Hill atop the standings with six points each.

Back-to-back wins

Having started their campaign with back-to-back 1-0 wins against William Knibb and 11-time champions Cornwall College, red-hot Maldon should be on a high going into their game again Herbert Morrison who have a 1-0 win against St. James and a 1-1 draw against William Knibb under their belts. "The confidence level in the team is quite high after such a good start to the season," said Loren Sailsman, the coach of the Maldon team. "The players have already started believing that we can get to the inter-zone round for the first time."

With maximum six points and 15 goals for and none against in their two games, the rampaging STETHS team could well have demolition thoughts going up against a Lacovia team which buckled 2-0 to Munro but showed some amount of spunk in a 3-0 blanking of Maggotty. However, with Munro in the fight for zone honours with the maximum six points, Lacovia will definitely be aiming to stay in close touch.

Glenmuir, who got off to a surprisingly good start with what is essentially a fairly new team, will be gunning for their third consecutive win against Garvey Maceo following their impressive 4-1 triumph against Vere and 4-0 blanking of Old Harbour.

While he has lost the bulk of the team that qualified for the 2005 final against Godfrey Stewart, coach Jackie Walters has made it quite clear that he considers schoolboy football as highly unpredictable and, as a consequence, he has not ruled out his young team going all the way.