Clarendon, KC through to Champions Cup semis

DaCosta Cup champions Clarendon College (CC) turned in a workman-like performance as they defeated St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) 2-1 to book their spot in the semi-finals of the ISSA Champions Cup Knockout competition at the Stadium East field yesterday.

CC, who are seeking to win the Champions Cup for the first time, were led to victory courtesy of first-half goals from Jaland Harmond, who got his strike in the first minute, and Rodrick Granville, who struck with 39 minutes on the clock. Warner Brown netted STATHS’ goal in the second minute of the match.

Defending Manning Cup champions Kingston College also secured their place in the semi-finals with a 2-1 win over Frome Technical in their game at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

Lenworth ‘Teacher’ Hyde, head coach of CC, said he is was very happy with his team’s progress in the competition and credited his players for their work throughout the campaign.

“It was a good performance for us,” said Hyde. “We were on the back foot in the last 10 minutes, but we defended well and we showed character, and it was a total team effort.”

CC have never won this competition since its inception five years ago and Hyde said they will be pulling out all the stops to ensure that they are victorious this season.

‘BRAWTA’

“We would prefer to repeat what we did last year, but this one is brawta for us, and so we are taking it very seriously and we would love to win all three trophies this year,” Hyde said.

CC will face McGrath in the semi-finals of the daCosta Cup competition on Wednesday.

Hyde’s opposite, Philip Williams, paid homage to Clarendon College while lamenting the non-execution of his strategy going into the game.

“I think that the guys did well because Clarendon College is a very good team, but we had a plan, and if that plan had worked out, then the scoreline would have been different,” said Williams.

“The goals were two soft goals because those are goals that we usually don’t give up, but Clarendon was the better team on the day and better team won,” he said.

CC got to a flying start when Harmond arrived at the back post to fire home a right-sided cross from David Chambers with his first touch of the game.

However, STATHS levelled the contest almost immediately, when Brown dribbled past two defenders to curl home a wonderful 20-yard shot beyond CC custodian Colin Fletcher.

CC, however, asserted themselves as the dominant team in the first period, as they increased their lead, when Granville collected a through pass out of midfield from Romario Campbell, to fire home from point-blank range past Fletcher.