It’s up for grabs!
IT’S UNUSUAL that Jamaica College (JC) starts a schoolboy football game as underdogs, but when they do, they cannot be underestimated, as St George’s College found out in the 2015 ISSA/FLOW Manning Cup final. The Georgians humiliated the Old Hope Road based school 4-1 in the FLOW Cup final that same year, but lost the Manning Cup 1-0. Kingston College (KC) defeated JC 2-0 in a quarterfinal game recently, but JC’s team manager, Ian Forbes, says that it’s a “totally different” game when they face The Purples in the FLOWISSA Walker Cup final this afternoon at the National Stadium at 5 p.m. That 2-0 win gave KC the tag favourites over their opponents in today’s final, and Forbes says they will set up accordingly..
KC look for record Walker Cup win against resolute JC
“We learned some lessons from that game and we see what strategy we will use in this upcoming game,” he said.
He insists they respect their opponents but do not fear them, and he is confident that if they execute what they have practised, they can overcome their Walker Cup jinx and win the school’s third title and coach Miguel Coley’s first.
NO CONCERNS
“There is no concerns (about KC). They are a good team and there is always a strong rivalry between both schools. We respect every team, but once we stick to the plan and execute, we should have a positive result,” Forbes said.
JC will look to Tyreke Magee, Maliek Howell, Tevin Rochester and Shaneil Thomas for their attacking spark on the day. However, they will be without key defender, Delverone Simpson, who was red carded in the semi final against Calabar.
However, contrary to Coley, who has failed to win the Walker Cup in five seasons, KC’s coach Ludlow Bernard has had unrivalled success, winning three knockout titles in four seasons. He wants this Walker Cup to be the first in many trophies for KC this season.
“I have been given the opportunity to win this competition on three previous occasions, two at Wolmer’s and once at Kingston College.
The competition is not as important as the Manning Cup, but it is up for grabs and we don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t go for it. We are on a mission and we pride ourselves on winning trophies, so we will go for it,” he said.
He continued that: “We are not interested in losing. We want to achieve and we see this as piece in the puzzle. So from hereon in, it’s going to be a psychological battle.
The opposition is one who we could have multiple encounters with, and each game comes with a different approach and different attitude. We just have to ensure the players have the correct attitude on the day.”
Kingston College are hunting a record 10th Walker Cup title. They are currently tied on nine titles with North Street rivals St George’s College.