STATHS coach happy with goal glut

St Andrew Technical High School’s (STATHS) head coach, Phillip Williams, praised his team’s attacking unit after they thrashed Penwood 9-0 in their ISSA Manning Cup encounter at Bumper Hall yesterday.

STATHS, who remain unbeaten this season, were led by hat-tricks from Dimitri Robinson and D’Marie Goulbourne. Robinson scored in the 16th, 35th and 89th minutes, while Goulbourne found the net in the 46th, 53rd and 75th minutes.

Tiran Williams opened the scoring in the 15th minute, while Kelvin Brown added another in the 37th minute and Kenrick Brown scored in the 73rd.

STATHS led 4-0 at half-time and went on to record their fifth consecutive victory in the second round of the competition.

Williams said he was pleased with the result, particularly because it gave several players who had not featured regularly the opportunity to gain valuable playing time.

“This is definitely a good victory for us, but we did some amount of rotation today, and it was good to have some of the boys who have not been playing much get minutes under their belts. They also put in a good performance, scoring nine goals, and that is something for the coaching staff to consider,” said Williams.

He added that the team’s consistency at both ends of the field had given the coaching staff confidence in its ability to continue performing well.

“We have a pretty good feeling about this team, because they have been training well and they have been playing well all season. We haven’t conceded a goal, and that means that we are strong defensively; and we have been scoring quite a few, which means that we are a very balanced team. So the feeling is pretty good, and confidence comes from the preparations,” he said.

Penwood head coach Dwayne Francis said the game was a difficult one for his team, given the rebuilding phase it is currently undergoing.

“It was always going to be a tough one for us because the truth is, we have a very small team with a lot of young players, and so this is a rebuilding process. We have a lot of 12-year-olds, 13-year-olds and 15-year-olds, and I think the youngsters did well this season. We knew that it was going to be a very tough game coming up against St Andrew Technical,” Francis said.

“I think we did play defensively enough, and maybe STATHS is just a better team overall. We are building for next season, and I am hoping that most of our players will be here, so we will just see what the future holds for us,” he said.

Yesterday’s Results

Exclelsior 6-0 Holy Trinity

Charlie Smith 1-4 Calabar

JC 3-1 Jose Marti

St Catherine 1-3 Wolmer’s

St George’s 3-3 Edith Dalton-James

St Jago 0-1 Norman Manley

STATHS 9-0 Penwood

KC 6-1 Tivoli

Campion 1-3 Camperdown