BB Coke shock Manchester to take control of Group 2

UNDERDOGS BB Coke clipped Manchester High in their ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup round-of-16 game, coming away 4-2 winners at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) Sports Complex in St Elizabeth yesterday.

BB Coke’s Semar Williams opened the scoring in the second minute. In the 23rd minute, a penalty was rewarded, and the captain, Zorek Grant, doubled the score. Manchester’s Ron Webb would put the goalkeeper to work, scoring in the 39th minute, to make things interesting before Grant’s 47th-minute penalty restored the two-goal lead. In the 79th minute, Manchester’s Tyrese Douglas scored his team’s second goal, setting up a frantic finish. However, the result would be made safe when BB Coke’s Devonte Coke made the points safe in time added.

Unlike their underdog tag would have suggested, in an electrifying first half, a dominant BB Coke got off the mark as early as the second minute, Manchester’s goalkeeper, Shamar Commock, fumbling a ball that Williams took advantage of.

Later in the half, Commock was again at fault, a bad tackle on BB Coke’s Otis Powell, resulting in a penalty.

Manchester weren’t giving up.

They kept attacking, and in the 39th, Webb curled his shot from outside the area into the top-right corner of goalkeeper Daniel Walters’ net.

But Manchester would soon find themselves in more trouble when Powell won another penalty for his team. Grant slot home the penalty, his fifth goal of the campaign.

Manchester came out with high energy in the second half and put themselves back in the contest when Douglas struck a cross that deflected and beat the goalkeeper.

FAILED ATTEMPT

With time winding down, Manchester committed more players into attack, seeking an equaliser, but failed to negotiate the counter-attacking of Manchester, Blake the man to hit the target, twisting the dagger that much more.

According to Kemar Ricketts, BB Coke coach, the result still leaves his teams as underdogs.

“We are getting accustomed to beating teams that were unbeaten. Paul Bogle, Happy Grove and now Manchester. It is a good feeling, and we are taking things objectively. As the competition progresses, I am sure we will see good teams that had a good season and not lost a game. We are ranked 22, and the team that lost today are ranked second, Paul Bogle seventh and Happy Grove 11th, so with all things considered, we are the underdogs. We are in the quarterfinal now, so we just go again Saturday and see where things take us. We are not going to get ahead our ourselves. We are just taking it one game at a time,” Ricketts said.

Patrick Graham, coach of Manchester, said the team has to bounce back on Saturday.

“Football is a game of two halves. In the first half, BB Coke got their chances and made use of it. They also scored a late goal in the second half, where we were moving towards getting an equaliser. The second half, we played a much better game, scoring a goal. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. We were always behind the football when we tried to equalise. That is just the game of football, and there are a lot of lessons to be learned from today. We just have to go back and reorganise ourselves and prepare for Saturday,” Graham said.

Yesterday’s results

BB Coke 4-2 Manchester

Cornwall College 2-0 Mile Gully

William Knibb 0-0 McGrath

Christiana 0-1 Dinthill

Garvey Maceo 1-0 Frome

Glenmuir 5-0 Port Antonio

STETHS 0-1 Clarendon College