JC know how to win – Ferguson - Coach expects culture of success to help in Manning Cup bid

Jamaica College (JC) head coach Davian Ferguson believes that the Old Hope Road-based team’s winning culture will make a huge difference in their ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup final against St Andrew Technical (STATHS), this Friday at the National Stadium.

The teams meet in a repeat of the 2017 final, which Jamaica College won 5-3 on penalties after both teams played out a 1-1 draw in regulation and extra time.

STATHS, who won their only Manning Cup title in 1987, are fancied to win Friday’s final and break their 32-year drought, but despite losing 2-1 to the Bumper Hall –based school in the quarter-final round of this year’s tournament, Ferguson is still confident that his team’s experience in championship situations will get them across the line on Friday.

JC have won 29 Manning Cup titles – more than any other school and were the dominant team in the competition from 2013 - 2017, when they won five consecutive titles under the guidance of Miguel Coley.

“We have played STATHS before, we saw what they have. The most important thing now is to get these players recovered (from semi-final), get their heads refocused and prepare for that game. The game will start at zero-zero, so we have as good a chance as STATHS. But STATHS is still to win a title for more than 30 odds years, so I believe we know how to win and we will win,” Ferguson stated confidently.

Ferguson, who replaced Andrew Peart during the off-season, has endured some criticism this season after making the move from St Jago.

He was, however, pleased to make it to the final in his first season with the school and is looking to take it one step further and deliver a 30th Manning Cup title to JC.

First target achieved

“Reaching the final was one of the targets we set at the start of the season, so we are happy, as a group, to reach that target. The other target now is to see how we can finish the season,” he said.

Ferguson was also impressed with how his team managed to dethrone defending champions Kingston College, who they got the better of on penalties in the semis.

“It (semi) was a very tactical game. Both teams played the same system for most of the game and cancelled out each other. But we somehow managed to match them, as KC tried to force us to make errors, but we limited those error and the counter-attacks. Plus last week ( the Champions Cup semi-final), their goalkeeper saved a few of our penalties, so we watched back the videos and saw that he was very good at low, mid-rift balls, so we tried to go high,” Ferguson revealed.

The Manning Cup final will get under way on Friday at 5:00 p.m. at the National Stadium. It will be preceded by the Walker Cup final, which gets under way at 2:30 p.m. at the same venue between Excelsior and St Catherine High.