MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Manchester High coach Simone Smith said she was by no means surprised that both her Junior and Senior League teams advanced to the quarter-finals of the ISSA/Digicel Rural Area netball competitions as group winners.

In the Junior League, Manchester topped Group One ahead of Herbert Morrison Technical with a 100 per cent win record, while the seniors also finished unbeaten in Group Two to edge out St Elizabeth Technical for top spot on goal average.

Holmwood Technical, the heavyweights in rural area schoolgirl netball, were the only other side to win their respective Under-16 and Under-19 groups.

“To be honest, we expected to win both groups,” Smith said. “Based on how we saw the other teams playing we knew it could happen.”

“We prepared well over the summer,” she added. “The Clarendon and Manchester leagues really helped us a lot. And we also had a camp which helped the team to (gel as a unit).”

Smith said the overall aim for the season is to win the double. “We are not underestimating any team,” she told the Jamaica Observer, “but we are expecting to go all the way. I think we have the depth in both squads to do it.”

She, however, wants her charges to defend better as a team. “That is what I would love to see,” she noted. “Whenever we lose a goal or a ball, everybody should be ready to defend. Not just the defenders.”

Manchester will now face two Clarendon teams in the quarter-finals — Glenmuir High in the juniors and Edwin Allen High in the seniors.

Smith said they will be approaching both games as if they were finals. “We have not seen any of them since the season started, so we are going there to play our game,” she said. “As I always tell the players, approach every game as if it is a final.”