SCHOOLBOY SHOWDOWN - 'Blues' promise all-out attack for Manning Cup


Jamaica College (JC) and St George's will renew a rivalry which very nearly spans 100 years - with some 40 titles between them - when they take the field for the final of the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup, at the National Stadium at 3p.m. this afternoon.

Having lifted the title after a 33-year hiatus last season, the 'Dark Blues' of JC, who have the most titles with 21, are starved for more success.

However, St George's, the 'Light Blues' who are second with 18, their last coming exactly 18 years ago, will hardly be satisfied with leaving the stadium without taking the coveted title back to North Street.

Favourites

Not many would have listed St George's among the favourites at the start of the season. However, now just one win away from securing their own place in history, Neville Bell, the man who stood at the helm when the team last won in 1992, believes his young charges are ready to deliver the goods.

"It is a big occasion, a big game. I would be surprised if the players weren't a bit nervous, but we are confident and I know we will be ready," Bell, told The Gleaner following a training session at Winchester Park on Thursday.

"We will play the way that we have all season, a style which suits us best and that is attacking football," Bell added.

With 52 goals to their credit St George's, spurred by the high powered offence of league-leading scorer Kemal Malcolm, tricky forward Shammar Shelton and Kemar Cummings, the 'Light Blues' have at times been a textbook study in schoolboy attacking football. However, it is a defensive unit that has conceded some 22 goals where most of their issues lie.

"There is no question that we have let in more than our fair share of goals, but I think to put all of those down to defensive errors is unfair, just like I don't agree with us being branded a second half team," Bell said.

St George's, who have won 10 games this season, are likely to have received that branding after holding a 2-0 first half lead over St Andrew Technical High School, before having to pull off a late extra-time 3-2 rescue effort.

Another slip-up

However, perhaps even more significant was another slip-up, which saw them lose their only game of the season to JC 3-2 after another 2-0 half-time lead.

The defending champions had almost seen their season end after a 2-0 quarter-final round loss to Waterford, and the title-holders had to battle tooth and nail to stay alive, knocking off Eltham 4-2 before winning the crucial St George's game.

However, they could face more setbacks today with crucial players out on cards and influential midfielder Ashani Walker having just come back into the team after suffering a fractured shoulder, perhaps not yet at 100 per cent. Thus, Saeed Robinson and and George Smart are expected to step up.

"The team has over-achieved a lot to date, no one was expecting us to reach this far and as such we don't know what will happen in the final. We just have to take it as another game," was the conservative estimate of JC's coach, Alfred Henry.

"Everybody's guess is as good as mine. As a realist, I deal with it as it comes and on Saturday we will see what will happen," he added.

"Manning Cup for me is not about winning the Cup, it is about winning individuals. There is more to accomplish than the Cup and that has been the overall philosophy guiding the programme since 2005, and it is what is driving us," he said.

With 48 goals so far this season JC are no slouches when it come to finding the back of the net and have promised not to abandon that philosophy in the final, accordin g to manager Ian Forbes.

"We've played attacking football all season and we will play that way in the final," he said.