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Gregory Daley, Green Pond High School's coach, will be aiming to secure a result that facilitates their goal of advancing to the second round, when they face Zone A counterparts Herbert Morrison Technical in the WATA ISSA daCosta Cup schoolboy football match at Herbert Morrison Technical in Montego Bay at 3:30 p.m. today.

"Expectations lead to disappointments," Daley said. "Our first goal is to achieve a certain number of points for the first round and then move over to the second round. We have been playing well but we are not satisfied with the results because we think we could have had better results."

Green Pond are second in Zone A with five points, having beaten Maldon 2-1 in their opening game. They drew 3-3 with Irwin High on Saturday, and 3-3 again against St James High on Wednesday.

Cornwall College sit atop of Zone A with six points, while Herbert Morrison lie fourth with three points, marginally below Maldon, who also have three points but a superior goal difference.

Daley said: "We intend to really make it better in terms of going forward to achieve our goals this season. As for preparations, there is not much more we can do, we played a game on Wednesday and another couple days apart. We have a few injuries but should be good enough for today."

Unlike Herbert Morrison, who won in 1986 and 1988, Green Pond have never won the daCosta Cup title. The furthest they have been is the semi-finals in the Ben Francis knockout.

Gary Grant, assistant coach of Herbert Morrison, often referred to as 'Compre', wants to rebound from their 1-0 defeat against Maldon High in their last game.

"We have to show people that 'Compre' is back and will challenge going forward. I am not sure of the Green Pond style of play, but I know the coaches and want to show them that we are ready to challenge them," Grant said.

"We should have won the last game at home but we are getting our heads back together and will challenge in this game," he added.

ashley.anguin@gleanerjm.com