With a 3-0 start to the new season, one might have figured North Village coach Scott Morton to be a happy man. Think again.

Not only does Morton expect more from his charges who advanced into the Martonmere Cup semi-finals last Sunday, courtesy of a 3-2 win over Boulevard, he also sounded a chilling message to all who oppose: "The best has yet to come".

"It's just been a matter of fine tuning," was how he summed up Village's performances thus far. "We are far from hitting top stride."

Presently, Tafari Outerbridge, Keith, Daniel, Jemeiko Jennings and backbone Kentoine Jennings have been missing from action, while the reliable Clay Smith has also yet to make the transition from cricket to soccer.

And given the club's recent performances, it should be a safe bet to assume that Village will again be in the hunt for top honours, and perhaps for starters, a first Martonmere Cup triumph since 1988/89.

However, Morton insists he's using the current competition as a means for weeding out the garden ahead of the new league campaign.

Village have walked off with both the FA Cup and league championship for the past two seasons.

"Winning it (Martonmere) is not our main priority," he insisted. "It's basically getting everybody in tune with each other and understanding each other on the field - seeing what are the best combinations and getting a good rotation going so once the league season starts we know what we have to build on."

And if you thought Morton would be using a two-week break to rest his troops, again, think again.

"We will be involved in practice matches over the next two weeks and they will be geared towards our players who have yet to play - and that's like another 11," he explained.

"I will be focusing on them and the remainder of the players will be working on set plays. The main core of our players already understand the focus and objectives of the team so it's just a matter of refining our game and things of that nature."

Morton said promising young defender Logan Alexander had fully recovered from a nasty knock he suffered during last Sunday's win. The youngster was involved in a collision with a team-mate, and as a precaution, subsequently whisked away to hospital for further observation.