JC in quarter-finals after fixture confusion

Defending champions Jamaica College (JC) are through to the quarter final round of the ISSA/FLOW Manning Cup after a 5-2 aggregate win over Charlie Smith.

However, head coach Miguel Coley was not pleased with the fixture confusion by the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), which forced them to have to rethink their tactics heading into yesterday's game.

Both teams had played to a 2-2 draw at the Stadium East Field on Saturday, but days ahead of that game, it was announced that the match would be considered Charlie Smith's home game. However, it was later announced that JC were actually being given home team status. This meant that the advantage would have been with Jerome Waite's team, rather than Coley's based on the away goals rule which favours the team who scored more goals away from home in a draw.

JC went on to win yesterday's game at the same venue 3-0, with two goals from Shaniel Thomas and the other from Norman Campbell. However, the scoreline could and perhaps should have been higher, as JC missed many chances to extend the lead in the second half, although Charlie Smith created more chances of their own after halftime.

"I'm happy with the win," Coley told The Gleaner. "We heard last week that it was our home game, we didn't know about that. At first it was confirmed that it was Charlie Smith's home game. Even when we went 2-2, we tried to keep the ball because defensively we weren't doing too well so I didn't want to push too many people forward. So we tried to maintain the 2-2 but we heard that it was our home game. So therefore, it was advantage to Charlie Smith once it was a draw. So because of that, we had to come here and score as quickly as possible and we did that."

Waite, on the other hand, said that the windy conditions at the venue negatively impacted how his team played, although he congratulated JC, saying they were the better team on the day.

"I didn't realise my captain (Romeo Guthrie) won the coin toss. Surprisingly, he went against the wind but it's a learning process for those youngsters, because it would have been a different ball game if he played with the wind, knowing that he won the toss. Overall, when you sum up the performance this year, this was not a title contender team. We lost the first half based on the conditions," Waite said.

In the second game of the triple header, St Andrew Technical (STATHS) and Camperdown High played to a 0-0 draw but STATHS advanced 1-1 on aggregate (away goal).

STATHS technical director Michael 'Jah Mikes' Williams praised his team for being pragmatic in how they approached the game, as they knew that a 0-0 score yesterday would have been enough to advance.

"It wasn't all that of a tactical game, but we did what we had to do," he said. "That was to come out with a 0-0 draw, we knew we had the edge going into this game but STATHS fought valiantly, defensively and it worked for us."

Yesterday's games:

- Charlie Smith 0-3 Jamaica College (2-5 agg.)

- Wolmer's Boys 1-2 Bridgeport (1-2 agg.)

- STATHS 0-0 Camperdown (STATHS advance).

- Excelsior 1-0 Calabar (1-2 agg.)

- Tivoli 0 Kingston College 6 (1-10 agg)