KC, Dinthill to lock horns in Champions Cup

LAST season’s beaten ISSA Champions Cup finalists, Kingston College (KC), will take aim at capturing their second hold on the trophy when they face Dinthill Technical High School in the quarter-finals of the competition at the National Stadium today. Kick-off time is 3 p.m.

The game was originally set for last Saturday but was postponed because of the adverse weather conditions affecting the island last weekend.

Heading into the fixture, Vassell Reynolds, head coach of KC, said the mindset of the boys is the usual one and he is anticipating a tough test from the Linstead-based Dinthill Technical.

“Our mindset is the usual one, and now that we’re through to the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup it’s nothing different. However, this might be a different kind of approach, as the rural teams tend to come with something unusual and offer a different test than the Manning Cup teams,” he shared.

Reynolds added that while he hasn’t seen much of their opponents, his coaching staff has done their due diligence, but he will be focusing on the areas his team has done well in this season.

“We are very positive; we appreciate the position that we’re in, and we’re willing to give of our best. I haven’t seen much of them, but like any other coach heading into a crucial game like this, we have done our personal scouting and are willing to take advantage of that. We want to focus on the areas that we have done well in and brush up on the other areas,” Reynolds added.

Oneil Thomas, head coach of Dinthill, in his pre-game assessment, shared that he’s seen some footages of KC and believes that his team can put themselves in a decent position to win the fixture if they follow the instructions of the coaching staff.

“I have seen some footage of KC and I think they’re a fighting team, just like our team. We (coaches) have worked on our team and believe in our system, and as long as we get that correct and apply ourselves on the field, then I think we’ll be a force to be reckoned with,” Thomas said.

He added that the 2-1 defeat against B.B. Coke in their last daCosta Cup match might prove to be a wake-up call.

“So far, the season has been challenging with its ups and downs. We lost our first game of the season in our last game against B.B. Coke and I think that will wake us up,” said Thomas.

Today’s matches

2 p.m: Hydel vs Garvey Maceo (St Elizabeth Technical)

4:15 p.m: Mona vs Glenmuir (St Elizabeth Technical)

3 p.m: Dinthill Technical vs Kingston College (National Stadium)

5:15 p.m: Clarendon College vs St George’s College (National Stadium)

orane.buchanan@gleanerjm.com