St James High School's Okieve Lewis (left) battles with Cornwall College's Michael Rickman during last Saturday's daCosta Cup game at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay. Cornwall College won 2-1. - Adrian Frater

With Manchester High's interzone berth from Zone G secured on the weekend with a 3-0 win over Spaldings, attention is now focused firmly on the trio of Knox College, Spaldings High and Christiana High.

These three are now set to wage an intense battle to gain the second and final spot.

Zone G will see action today, Thursday and will close out the preliminary round on Saturday.

In games on this afternoon, Manchester (24 points) will play at home in Mandeville, and are almost a cinch to pocket zone honours when they face a Bellefield High team they defeated 3-0 in the first round and who bowed out of contention after successive defeats to Spaldings and Christiana.

Spaldings (17) are idle this afternoon, but will hope that Knox (15) drop points or falter badly against Mile Gully, and that a similar occurrence besets Christiana (16 pts) at home to the other group minnows, Holmwood. Stranger things have happened, but no bet is likely to be good against these two contenders extracting the maximum three points.

This outlook merely adds to the dogfight which should heat up on Thursday when Christiana face Spaldings. One of the two will most likely be eliminated after the game. The schedule appears more favourable for Knox, who should again collect the full quota of points from Holmwood on Thursday. They will end on Saturday against Bellefield, who should offer little resistance.