Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

Harbour View's coach Lenworth Hyde. - File

Lenworth 'Teacher' Hyde, coach of National Premier League champions Harbour View said his players will have to be very disciplined in their approach if they are going to be successful in retaining their title.

"This season is not going to be easy for us, it is going to be tougher than last season. We are going to have to work double overtime now and I know with the experience that I have, I know how to prepare them for the challenge of defending a trophy," said Hyde in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday.

"We will have to work harder, we will have to make more sacrifices than we did last year and we will have tobe more disciplined," he said.

As part of their preparation for the coming season, the east Kingston-based team will leave the island tomorrow for a pre-season tour of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they will take part in this year's Positive Vibes Soccer Champions Tournament.

Apart from Harbour View, the four-team tournament will feature two teams from the U.S. Virgin Islands and one from St. Kitts. The teams representing the hosts are St. Croix and Positive Vibes. Willfull Skillful will carry the colours of St. Kitts.

The competition ends on Sunday with the third-place play-off followed by the finals, with Harbour View slated to return on Monday.

"I am expecting my team to perform well on this tour of the U.S. Virgin Islands because we are going to take it very seriously because we are going to play two games, so I think that it is a good thing for us because it will give us an opportunity to see where we are right now," Hyde said.

Warm-up matches

Harbour View, which have been playing a number of warm-up matches during their pre-season campaign, recorded three wins in its friendly matches last weekend. The Under-17 team defeated a St. Thomas Under-17 team 3-0, the Masters League team edged St. Thomas' Masters 2-1 and the NPL team beat a St. Thomas all-star team 2-0.

Hyde added: "The preparation has been going well because we have started training about two weeks now since we are in the pre-season and it is more physical training.

"However, we still have a lot of work to do and I think that these games will do us well because we need to get in these practice games right now."

Clyde Jureidini, the club's general manager, will travel as the head of delegation for the tour. The full squad is Richard Edwards, Michaud Barrett, Christopher Harvey, Marvin Mundy, Lovel Palmer, Kemar Petrekin, Robert Scarlett, Gregory Simpson, Oneil Smith, Ricardo Smith, Errol Stevens, Fabian Taylor, Gregg Taylor, Loxley Thomas, Mitchily Waul, Kevin Wooley and Lennox Wright.