Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
FORMER CHAMPIONS Seba United and Reno along with Village United will be hoping for positive starts this afternoon as the 2002 Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) season kicks off.
In western Jamaica, Village will host three-time champions Reno at the Elleston-Wakeland Community Centre starting at 3:30 p.m. while at Jarrett Park, Seba United will welcome Harbour View in a game set to start at 6:00 p.m.
A lot of attention will be focused on the two former champions who owe their places in the NPL this season to a special play-off at the end of last season following the discontinuation of the National A League.
After the A League was discontinued, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) had a play-off with the teams in the A League that had failed to gain promotion, the demoted teams from the NPL and the Confederation winners.
Seba who had failed to gain automatic promotion from the A League and Reno who had been relegated from the NPL, both took the second chances with both hands and returned to the big time in local football.
Village, who had turned around a disastrous start and made a run for the semi-finals under coach Geoffrey Maxwell, eventually finishing sixth and Seba were however busy in the off-season, loading up on players for what is expected to be a tough campaign.
Seba have had a make-over from last season and their starting line up is expected to feature experienced players of the caliber of former English Division Three player Theodore Whitmore, goalkeeper Warren Barrett, striker Kirk Wright and midfielder Wilfred Smith.
They will join forces with captain Daniel Rickets, Norman Foster and Seian McNish.
The Montego Bay team will have to be at their best however as Harbour View, under new coach Donovan Hayles, will be fielding a team that will be bolstered by the return of midfielder Sean Fraser who returns from a loan stint at Hazard, wingback Peter Marshall - brother of national player Tyrone and forward Anthony Leslie.
Chris Jackson will replace left fullback Robert Scarlett who is now representing a top Russian Premier League team while Fabian Taylor, Jermaine Hue and Daniel Shaw will represent the core of the players from last season.
Village have also gone for a new look from top to bottom starting with a new coach in the form of German national Albert Mayr who will team up with Edwin Alcock to guide the team this season.
The Village team will also have a new look on field as they have brought in experienced players such as goalkeeper Loxley Reid, midfielder Winston Anglin, Kirk Hendricks and Thomas Grant along with up-and-coming striker Jermaine Anderson.
Anderson, the former striker for Granville in the St. James Hart Senior League last season where he scored nearly 50 goals in the season, is expected to start on the front line alongside Teofore Bennett with Fabian Dawkins and Glenworth Benjamin.
Anderson repaid the faith of the national technical director designate Carl Brown by scoring on his debut for the national team a week ago in a friendly against India in London.
Grant will be another dangerous addition to the Village team once he gets over a leg injury.
Reno will be taking orders from Linval 'Palla' Wilson this season and despite bringing in a number of new players, they will have to work overtime to make up for the loss of Wright who was their top scorer and main threat last season.
Steve Morris, Craig Williams and Shane Edwards along with newcomers Carlton Barrett, Omar Dallas and Owen Cunningham will be able to help fill the breach and start them on the road to respectability.
