Calabar’s coach was nervous – Wedderburn
Despite trailing 0-2, coach of St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), Omar ‘Rambo’ Wedderburn said his confidence rose in the ISSA/FLOW Super Cup semifinal victory when he saw the nervousness of Calabar coach Lijyasu Simms.
STETHS secured a spot in the final when they defeated Calabar 6-5 in a sudden-death penalty shoot-out at Sabina Park on Saturday, this after the teams ended 2-2 at the end of regulation time.
Calabar opened the scoring when Orane Ferguson’s penalty was saved but he sent home the rebound in the 42nd minute. Ferguson then doubled the lead in the 52nd minute to give his team what seemed like an insurmountable lead.
However, STETHS rallied behind goals by Clifton Woodbine from the penalty spot in the 75th minute and Demar James in the 80th minute.
UNFORTUNATE
“No, to be honest, we went down 0-1 from the first half. One of the talk at half-time was to get back a goal in 20 minutes. Unfortunately, in 15 minutes of the second half, Calabar scored another goal. I shouted to the team and told them we were three minutes behind our first goal. Then we got the penalty and scored, our confidence rose even higher at that time,” Wedderburn told STAR Sports.
“If you noticed, we were not rushing the game unnecessarily. Even at 2-0 down, we were still playing the same way that we started the game,” he reasoned.
Wedderburn pointed out that he gained confidence from what he described as Simms’ expressions of nervousness.
“When I looked across to the Calabar coach, I saw a big block of nerves. I could see the man’s heart beating through his shirt. When I saw nervousness on their coach, I knew it would only be a matter of time before the team crumbled. The players played off the coach’s energy. When I saw that I just kept on encouraging my team,” Wedderburn added.
“I was confident during the penalty shoot-out as I don’t have nerves,” the STETHS coach boasted.