Excelsior’s Gilbert satisfied with Manning Cup start
XAVIER Glibert, head coach of the Excelsior High football team, may not want to get too far ahead of himself too early in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/digicel Manning Cup competition. But the experienced tactician said that once his players continue to show improvement, his team will continue to reap success in the ongoing.
Excelsior are off to a solid start this campaign, having played out to a 2-2 result against Kingston Technical; a 6-0 whipping of Cumberland; edging Clan Carthy 1-0; and defeating Jose Marti Technical 1-0 to top Group F so far with 10 points. Excelsior, however, have one game pending against Campion College, which was called off in the second half due to heavy rain and lightning on Thursday.
“We just have to continue playing as we are doing and continue to improve as we play day by day and work on the deficiencies that we think that we have to work on. The more we play, the better it gets,” Gilbert told the Jamaica Observer.
“We still have some niggling injuries and some possessions that I believe we need to sort out, and I believe that once we fix those things we will be doing better,” he said.
Referee Keble Williams called off the top-of-the-table clash between Excelsior and Campion with 16 minutes remaining on the clock on Thursday. The teams were locked at 0-0 before the premature end to what was an exciting, ding-dong battle.
Excelsior dominated the entire match before the interruption as they showed more class.
“It was a good showing from the team. I mean, the players played well, and the most important thing is that we are still unbeaten and are still at the top of the group. I mean, we definitely want to top the group and at least make it to the last eight, and we will take it from there,” Gilbert said.