Final-four berth for Manchester a long time in coming

Western Bureau:

MANCHESTER HIGH School have qualified for the semi-finals of the ISSA/Digicel daCosta Cup football competition for the first time in seven years.

Manchester’s final-four appearance came courtesy of last Saturday's 3-1 win over William Knibb Memorial High School at STETHS Sports Complex in Santa Cruz.

Manchester moved to six points along with The Manning’s School, who thrashed Frome Technical High School 6-1 in the Westmoreland derby.

William Knibb and Frome are yet to pick up a point in the four-team group but will advance to the second round of the Ben Francis Knockout Cup.

Manchester's coach Johnoy Chambers was ecstatic after his boys put in a dominant display of football.

"We came with a game plan and the players executed. We expected a lot more from William Knibb based on the tapes that we were studying," Chambers said.

"We are excited indeed. It has been seven years since we've made it to the semi-finals although we have always been knocking on the door. This year, thankfully, we finally broke through," he added.

Dwight Jeremiah, coach of William Knibb, said he knew they were behind the eight ball and tried something different tactically, but it didn't come off.

"It's not the result we wanted. We wanted the three points to set it up for the last game, but it didn't happen. We gave up a very soft first goal after the goalkeeper misjudged the flight of the ball," Jeremiah said.

"I have to give them credit for the fight. I think after going two goals down in that second half ,they continued to fight. The boys started the season to win a trophy and still have a chance as we go down to the Ben Francis second round. We have a little bit of time to dust ourselves off and get a little rest to go at it.

Coach Jeremiah appears to have got it all wrong tactically after his top scorer, Mark Lewis, who has scored all three goals for the team since the first round, was not in the starting eleven. He was certainly a live wire after his introduction for the second half and even scored his fourth goal since the first round to take his tally to 19 goals.

"The worst thing that can happen to a coach is to not know what you're going to get from a player, and the last two games Mark was flat. We felt we would give him a jerk by putting him on the bench and bringing him on. We saw him in the second half, and he was a much better player than we've seen recently," Jeremiah said.