Mannings push KC, Dinthill crush STATHS

DINTHILL TECHNICAL High School and Kingston College (KC) booked spots in the semi-finals of the Inter-Secondary Schools’ Sports Association (ISSA) Champions Cup with quarterfinal victories in a doubleheader at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) Sports Complex in Santa Cruz, yesterday.

A Jaheim Thomas hat-trick inspired Dinthill’s 5-1 comeback win over St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) in the curtain-raiser. In the other game, defending champions KC eked out a narrow 1-0 win over a valiant Mannings School.

STATHS breached a Dinthill defence that seemed impenetrable before the game with an 11th-minute Leon Brown strike. Thomas responded five minutes later with the equaliser for Dinthill. Ricardo Matthews (27th) and Shamar Hutchinson’s 39th-minute goals gave the St Catherine-based school a comfortable 3-1 lead at halftime.

Thomas was ruthless in completing his hat-trick in the second half with goals in the 60th and 83rd minutes.

Oniel Thomas, coach of Dinthill, said that while they didn’t want to concede, they were more concerned about being more ruthless in front of goal.

“It was a good performance. It’s all about preparation and when we said ‘come back from the break,’ the guys just run in because they really want it. That encourages everyone to work.

“One of the things that we realised in previous games was that we were missing a lot of chances. We have been working on it after the break and it worked out well,” said Thomas.

Thomas also heaped praise on his hat-trick hero: “He has been knocking at the door with one and two goals. It’s good to see him score three today. He ran into some injury problems earlier in the season, so we had to take time to ease him back in. He is a good player, and as the competition progresses, I expect him to get better.”

EARLY LEAD

In the second game of the STETHS double header, KC did not have things all their own way. After taking the lead just 10 minutes into the game, from Ronardo Burgher’s near-post finish, KC seemed like they would run away with the encounter. However, Mannings grew into the game, dominating possession, especially in the second half.

A possession coach himself, KC’s Ludlow Bernard was not happy.

“We are happy for the result. We played against a spirited team that didn’t have anything to lose. At the end of the day, the strength of our team prevailed. We didn’t concede many attempts even though they had possession because they were putting a lot of bodies forward,” Bernard said.

“I am concerned about the finishing because we kept them in the game. It is something that we have to address,” he added.

Everton Tomlinson, coach of Mannings, said a lack of confidence was the reason for their defeat as he believes they are just as good as KC.

“I think lack of confidence was our downfall. If we had capitalised on our earlier chances, things could have been different. However, we continued to play. Looking back at the game, I don’t see where KC is better than us.

“The fact that KC are former champions and a big name played on the mind of the players. I have to get them to believe more in themselves, so we will be working on that, and, hopefully, we can get over the hurdle against Dinthill [in the daCoata Cup semi-final],” he added.

sports@gleanerjm.com