Zone F is one of two the parish of Manchester will host in this season's Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel/Pepsi daCosta Cup rural schoolboy football competition.

Action gets under way on September 16 with a full slate of matches: Manchester playing away to Cross Keys at a venue to be decided, Bellefield hosting Belair and deCarteret hosting May Day.

This year, the zone welcomes back May Day after a two-year absence, while it says goodbye to Porus, which have been transferred by ISSA to the other preliminary zone hosted in North Manchester. This change is unlikely to affect the posture of competition throughout the preliminary round.

Tradition suggests Manchester and Bellefield will be the teams to create the most interest, as well as secure the two automatic berths.

DeCarteret are in a rebuilding mode under coach Oral Wilshaw and were subjected to a 5-0 thrashing by Cornwall College. May Day too will find the going rough with no member of the squad having prior daCosta Cup experience. They too suffered heavily against Cornwall (7-1), but have two good players in Roneil Walker and Lundy Francis, both of whom played on their community team, which reached the final of the Manchester Under-17 competition.

Minnows

Cross Keys were the cinderella team of the zone last year, after being subjected to a 10-0 battering by Manchester. They did manage to earn a point in an away draw 1-1 to deCarteret, but struggled to find a suitable venue and were penalised twice by ISSA. Even with a little more experience, there is nothing to suggest they will even be spoilers.

That role could be taken by Belair, who battled deCarteret for the third-place position last season, although finishing well behind Manchester and Bellefield.

The Belair team remains a private institution but is coached by Tony Peart, whose valuable presence for the last six years has helped them shelve their minnows tag. Belair retained nine players from last year's s squad, including six starters in Ryan Baugh, Travis Leslie, Zachary Wilson, Tyrone Carter, Christopher Larmon and goalkeeper, Dwayne Myrie.

Practice match results suggest they will again pack some fight but for the most part struggle. With just one notable victory coming against York Castle (3-0), they lost 0-1 to Clarendon team, Denbigh, while gaining a 0-0 against Christiana. Coach Peart also highlighted inadequate preseason preparation.

With 12 players retained from last year squad, including seven from their regular starting 11, Manchester are being touted for more than just the top place in this zone.

Compared with other teams in this zone, their programme appears adequately funded and they have been able to board players and travel consistently for practice games. Quite notable among their results are defeating Manning's 3-0, swamping Herbert Morrison 6-0, earning draws against Kingston College and Garvey Maceo. They have been defeated by Premier League club Sporting Central Academy 5-1 and Excelsior High 1-0.

Interzone phase

Coach Barry Watson admits his target this season is well beyond that achieved by reaching the interzone phase last and the previous years, where they failed by one point to reach the semi-finals.

"The chances are good. Last year the weak area was goalscoring and we think we have some improvement in that area. We have a new player who has been outstanding so far."

The team is ably served by the experience of goalkeeper Michael Parcell (4 years), Baron Watson Jr, captain for the last two years, defender Dave Morgan and new addition Jason Johnson, formerly of Knox.

Bellefield, too, are boasting confidence for a better season. After dominating the Manchester scene between 2000-05, the team took a two-year layoff. Their return last year was highly anticipated. Following a stuttering start where they had to overcome a 1-3 deficit at half-time to secure a 3-3 draw against improving Belair, they rebounded quickly to take second spot - losing out by one point to fancied Manchester. Tomlin wants greater focus this time around.

"I have a squad that can return Bellefield back to number one in the zone. My main worry is complacency, but I feel this year will be a good one for us," Tomlin predicted.

The complacency he speaks of is reflected in the 2-1 away loss to Knox after scoring first and the revenge they took while hammering the same outfit 7-0 in a return match later.

In practice matches his season, they have beaten Calabar 1-0, Lacovia 2-0 but they have also lost 0-2 to St Elizabeth Technical High (STETHS) and drawn 2-2 with Edwin Allen. Tomlin also cites as notable their series against Cornwall, in which they both won and lost 1-0.

The key players are Christopher Stephenson, Fabian Reid, Dwayne Brown and Roshan Davis. The latter two were recent invitees to national youth squads.