![]() |
November 25, 2011
|
![]() |
|||
![]() |
|||||
![]() |
|||||
![]() |
Star Sport |
![]() |
|||
![]() |
|||||
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
|
![]() |
|||
George's, Charlie ready for Manning Cup clash |
![]() |
||||
Robert Bailey, Star Writer
It will be D-Day for St George's College (StGC) and Charlie Smith tomorrow as the ISSA/Gato-rade/Digicel Manning Cup season climaxes with the final between the schools inside the National Stadium, starting at 4 p.m. It follows the third-place curtain raiser between dethroned champions Jamaica College (JC) and Wolmer's Boys at 2 p.m. StGC, who were last year's beaten semi-finalist, are the firm favourites to secure their 20th hold on the Corporate Area's most prestigious schoolboy trophy. The Light Blues, who first won the title in 1912, last won back-to-back titles in 2008-09. The Neville 'Bertis' Bell-coached 'Georgians', who are also in the finals of the Walker Cup Knockout competition, against Kingston College, are the only team still unbeaten in the competition. They have netted 49 goals while conceding a mere four. The North Street-based school secured their spot in the final with a 1-0 victory over Wolmer's in the semi-final. Outstanding national Under-17 player, sweeper and captain Oshane Jenkins will be marshalling his troops as usual and should get good support from the competition's second-leading goalscorer Kendon Anderson, who has netted 16 goals. They are also expected to receive good support from National Under-17 players, Romario Jones, André Lewis, Cordell Benbow and goalkeeper Nico Campbell along with the versatile Ryan Miller. "We are confident but only God knows what will happen," said Bell. "We are not over confident because we know that we are going up against a good team and we know that we have to be at our best to win." "There is no pressure on us because this is what we wanted, and all season I have been saying that we wanted to be in the Walker Cup final, we have made that, and now we are in the Manning Cup final so we are looking forward to it." On the other hand, Charlie Smith, are no strangers to the Manning Cup final and will be hunting their fourth title and first since 1995. The yellow-and-white clad Charlie Smith are the most prolific team in the competition, scoring 55 goals while conceding 13. Striker Michaelos Martin, who is the competition's leading scorer with 18 goals, along with their inspirational playmaker Jovani Simms, will lead the Charlie Smith attacking line. The skilful Simms, regarded by many as the best player in the competition, has netted 13 goals this season. He also scored the winning goal for his team in their 3-2 win over JC in the semi-final. "We are very confident," said Jerome Waite, coach of Charlie Smith. "I know that the game will be an exciting one, but I expect my team to rise to the occasion on the day." "Our main objective is to score goals and once we do that, then we should be able to come out victorious," said the long-standing coach. Continuing, Waite said: "We have a lot of depth in this team because in the second round of the competition we scored three goals in every game and so the team is in good stead." Martin and Smith are expected to receive support from Andrew Allen and Lennox Russell, who scored against Wolmer's in the semi-finals along with Vishiunl Harris and Tamar Edwards. |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
||||
Home | Gleaner Blogs | Gleaner Online | Go-Jamaica | Go-Local | Feedback | Disclaimer | Advertisement | Privacy Policy | Contact Us |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |