Spot Valley can win it all - Palmer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Getting to the daCosta Cup quarter-final stage is like tonic for Spot Valley High, their coach Gregory Palmer told The Gleaner recently, adding that a first, ever title is within their reach.

Spot Valley are having their best ever outing in schoolboy football in the 11-year history of the school and will tackle another of this year's surprise packages in Little London High, in the first match of a Jarrett Park double-header in the quarter-final round of the 2016 ISSA/FLOW daCosta Cup this afternoon at 1 p.m.

The other game matches Rusea's against Paul Bogle High at 3 p.m.

Palmer declared his team has enough quality to upstage their more fancied oppositions if they get past the 'Londoners', but was quick to brush aside their overconfident and hyped-up label heading into the quarter-final clash.

"I will say we are confident of doing well against a very good Little London side, but we will not be overconfident at all," he said.

"In fact, if anything, my players are just delighted to have come this far. I see the belief in their eyes and I hear them speak of what it would mean to reach the semis. If that happens, I truly feel that we can advance to the final and win it all," Palmer stated.

SURVIVED GROUP OF DEATH

The coach, who took them to the inter-zone round last year, was clearly drawing a slight comparison with the 2005 championship winning team of Godfrey Stewart High, reasoning that his players are holding on to a similar belief.

Dubbed as a group of death, Spot Valley High finished second behind Rusea's High in the inter-zone round on four points, but ahead of the likes of Godfrey Stewart and St James High in Zone Two and now will, for the first time, play a daCosta Cup quarter-final game.

"It is historic. But it's also what we want," Palmer said. "It's going to be two schools in this position for the first time, playing quality football. It couldn't get any better, except that we hope that after 90 minutes that we are the winners," he added.