30-minute onslaught puts KC into quarters
Published:Sunday | October 30, 2022 | 12:13 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
THERE MAY have been raised eyebrows after Jose Marti High held defending ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup champions Kingston College (KC) scoreless in the first leg of their second-round tie on Wednesday.
But KC took just 20 minutes to lower those eyebrows and eliminate any ideas of an upset in yesterday’s second leg.
KC struck first, fast and often, sparing no expense as they thrashed the St Catherine-based Jose Marti 9-0 yesterday at the Stadium East playfield to stroll into the quarter-finals.
Dujuan ‘Whisper’ Richards was imperious, scoring five goals, three of them coming in those 20 minutes (2nd, 6th, 20th 48th and 90th), while Jaheem Johnson had a brace in the 18th and 44th minutes with further tallies coming from Ashanie Kennedy in the 41st minute and Nashordo Gibbs in the 58th.
Any concerns that the KC supporters had after a frustrating first leg were eased early by the Raymond Watson-coached team who insisted on a training session that morning for his team, to ensure they executed the plan of finishing the tie in the opening half an hour.
“When we trained, what we were doing on Friday, 30 minutes. (Yesterday) morning, we went for 37 minutes. We said we were going to win this game in 30 minutes. So the preparation for everything was all about 30 minutes. And I thought we did well because, in 30 minutes, we had the game under control,” Watson said.
The chances that weren’t put away at Royal Lakes were dispatched easily as the Jose Marti defence, which put up strong resistance in the first leg, crumbled.
Jose Marti head coach Patrick Lewis knew that it would be no easy task but he said that the injury concerns in his squad, including to the goalkeeper, made life difficult in those opening 20 minutes.
LOTS OF INJURIES
“We were playing with a lot of injuries and I guess that is what hurt us in the first 25 minutes and got us out of the game. It was always going to be an uphill task against the defending champions with the best forward in the competition,” Lewis said.
Meanwhile, St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) booked their place in the quarter-finals despite losing 1-0 to St Jago in their return leg in the first game of the Stadium East double-header.
Marcus Tudor scored in the 61st minute to give them hope but could not find the second goal required as the tie finished 2-2 on aggregate with STATHS advancing via the away goals rule. STATHS won the first leg 2-1 on Wednesday at the Spanish Town Prison Oval.
STATHS head coach Phillip Williams said that the occasion may have affected the performance of his young team but felt that they did enough in the first leg to earn the advantage that ended up taking them through.
“We did what we had to do in the first 90 minutes. Coming back on this beautiful surface, we would have hoped that the guys would have played much better,” Williams said.
“The pressure of the knockout round may have affected them. But it is a young unit and we are glad to be through to the quarter-finals again.”
While it was the end of the Manning Cup road for St Jago, head coach Garnett Lawrence praised the team for the progress they have made in his first year in charge.
Manning Cup Quarter-final groups
Group 1 Group 2
Kingston College Jamaica College
Mona High STATHS
Charlie Smith Haile Selassie High
St George’s College Wolmer’s Boys’
Yesterday’s results
- STATHS 0 St Jago 1 (2-2 aggregate. STATHS win via away goals rule)
- St Catherine 1 Wolmer’s Boys’ 2 (2-2 aggregate. Wolmer’s win via away goals rule)
- KC 9 Jose Marti 0 (KC win 9-0 on aggregate)
- Jamaica College 1 Norman Manley 0 (Jamaica College win 6-0 on aggregate)