Audley Boyd, Assistant Sport Editor

Maxwell

WESTERN BUREAU:

THERE WASN'T much difference in the way Seba United finished the Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) first round this season, when compared to their position last year - close to the bottom of the ladder.

Being 11th and 15 points behind the leaders is certainly not the ideal place to be when one third of the competition has been completed. And the Montego Bay club, which tallied 10 points in 11 first-round matches, aims to change that.

The NPL's regular schedule was broken for about a fortnight due to Wednesday's end-of-round final between front-runners Waterhouse (25), and Harbour View (20), who won. Seba weren't licking their thumbs though.

"It has to be noted that Seba over the years seem to have a very, very slow start to the season in the first round. Last year they were worse off than where we are today," said Geoffrey Maxwell, who took over as the new coach this season at the club which regained promotion to the league only about three seasons ago.

Also, Seba's performances this season should have been more significant at this stage due to a decade-long tradition of winning the league.

In 1986-87, they pioneered rural NPL success and exactly 10 years later, 1996-97, they took the title again. Since they are not in any position to win the championship now, Seba are doubling up their efforts.

Physical training

"We have used the two-week break and we have gone into very extensive physical training with a qualified physical instructor. We train twice a day - 10-12 in the mornings and 3:30-5:30 in the evenings. We are hoping that this will make a change," Maxwell said.

"I'm not saying it will, but it might be the way forward. What I've found since I've come to the west over the years is that the western teams don't appear to me as if they like to be coached. It is more of a physical preparation, and going out there playing in games and possibly outrunning teams. But the game has changed a lot . At the same time, most of the teams that I've seen in the premier league are not very tactical teams, it depends heavily upon how you approach each game," he said.

Having lost seven times after accumulating the next from worst tally of goals - a whopping 21, they definitely need a new approach. Only newcomers Naggo Head, firmly at the bottom on three points with 23 concessions, are worse off.

"I have to say I'm a little disappointed as to where we have ended up in the first round because I think quite frankly we have not really been defeated, in my mind, by any of the teams we've played. We've not been outplayed in any manner, I just think we've lost a lot of games through careless defending and, as I said from day one, the lack of penetrative strikers would cause us a problem," noted Maxwell.

"We've been blowing hot and cold and this is the thing that worries me. We win against some teams, we lose against some teams."

To change that, they are making additions to the roster, hoping that coupled with the new dispensation comes alterations to suit lofty ambitions.

"I'm looking forward to the second round. As I've said to the team, we have 11 games to win, none of the games we can afford to draw," exclaimed Maxwell, full of optimism.

"If we approach our games as we've been doing in training over the past couple of days, I feel we can have a sudden turnaround. I think we have about three to five new players who are training with us, and I am impressed with about three to four of them, so I am hoping that they can add to the talent that we have there to see if we can turn our fortunes around."