Dinthill to go for broke after Central lifeline

DINTHILL TECHNICAL High School coach Oneil Thomas praised his troops for getting the job done against Central High School on Saturday. However, the veteran coach says it will be all or nothing when his team faces Clarendon College on Tuesday to decide if his side will have a chance to be in the final four of this year’s ISSA daCosta Cup.

Dinthill kept their hopes alive with a 3-1 win over Central High in their Group B quarter-final encounter, and they must now beat leaders Clarendon College and hope that Central take care of Edwin Allen, to have a chance of moving on.

After Clarendon College beat Edwin Allen 2-0 to move into the semi-finals with six points, Dinthill knew they had to come out all guns blazing to get a positive result against a stubborn and resilient Central High team.

That pressure would bear fruit as early as the ninth minute when a swift attacking move saw Central defender Anrick Gordon turning the ball into his own net to send sparse travelling Dinthill fans into rapture.

That early goal did not seem to deter the Central team, who responded immediately with some attacking play of their own.

A hopeful right-sided cross was horribly mishandled by Dinthill goalkeeper Asher Hutchinson and a quick-thinking Shane Gordon pounced to stab home from close range to draw the May Pen-based school level in minute 23.

That goal seemed to have angered the Dinthill team who then responded immediately, Giovanni Afflick finding the back of the net in the 24th minute.

At 2-1, Dinthill had to repel a couple of Central’s attacks. They did so successfully before earning a two-goal cushion through substitute Tyhamba Chin, who tucked home a well-placed free kick from inside the area in the 61st minute.

Central resorted to long balls for the remainder of the contest, but astute defending kept those very direct attacks at bay.

“The boys finally turned up today because we didn’t do that in our last game. We will have to do it again against CC, because I know we have the players to do it,” said Thomas.

Losing coach Jermaine Douglas lamented what was a tough outing for his troops, who held their own for the most part.

“Set plays got the better of us today. From open play, they weren’t really a threat. It is disappointing that it ends for us here because the objective was a minimum semi-final. But we move on.”

Yesterday’s Results

William Knibb 0-2 Manchester

Manning’s 6-1 Frome

Central 1-3 Dinthill

Clarendon College 2-0 Edwin Allen