Devonshire Colts coach Keishon Smith believes his team are ready to show their worth when the new season kicks off in just over a month's time.

Colts endured a turbulent 2008/09 campaign in which they finished the league winless and at the foot of the table.

To add to the side's misery, the Bermuda Football Association (BFA) placed coach at the time Ray Jones on probation for one year after a spat with referee Ronue Cann.

Smith, who plied his trade at Colts during his playing days, is anxious to get the side to play to their potential and learn from the lessons of last year after taking up the reins from Jones.

"We are looking to improve on what we didn't do last year which is the most important thing, " said Smith.

"We played a lot of good football but the results that we got didn't reflect the type of football that we played.

"This year we are looking to go a bit better and up our place in the standings and our quality of play. Our fight for survival last year will go a long way to helping us this year I think."

The BFA handed Colts a massive get-out-of-jail free card after voting to expand the Premier Division this season to 10 teams, which meant there would be no automatic relegation at the end of the last season.

Instead the first seven sides in the top-flight, and the top two in the second-tier, will take nine of the places available, which left Colts and St. David's to battle it out for the remaining position in the top tier.

In the end it was Colts who did just enough to keep their top-flight status, winning the two-legged tie on penalties after there was no winner after 180 minutes.

Although most teams would have folded under the pressure, coach Smith said even with results not going their way he saw dedication and determination in his players.

And he is adamant his side have what it takes to come correct this time around.

"Last year we had a very young team and if was the first time a lot of them had played top flight football together.

"So having the chance to survive and stay up will give an opportunity to see what level they have to play at week in and week out.

"It took us a whole season to get our groove and catch ourselves, but when it counted most we came through.

"The overall camaraderie and team harmony is big, I don't know of too many teams on the Island that have had won no games as we did and still have 15 to 20 players show up every training session ready to play.

"For me that showed a lot of commitment and heart from them, and I am more then willing to help them get better.

"This year we didn't really have too many guys leave the setup in the off-season, so when you add the younger guys coming through and the college students have been bolstered.

"Things are looking good and with the lessons learned from last season we will look to take it a step better this time around."