Vassel Reynolds, coach of Wolmer’s Boys’ School, says they enjoy sporting the underdog status as they prepare to take down the mighty Cornwall College in today’s much-anticipated Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/FLOW Super Cup final at Sabina Park.

“It’s a big final, and it is one of the biggest competition at this level, especially coming up against a team that many people rightfully consider as the overwhelming favourites.

“We are enjoying the underdog status because it is something that we strive off just like last year. Many people wouldn’t have expected us to be in the semi-final of the Manning Cup this year and the final of a Super Cup, and so we enjoy that and we are using it as a motivational tool as we are looking forward to the Cornwall College match-up,” Reynolds told the

Jamaica Observer via telephone yesterday.

Wolmer’s have been a model of consistency throughout the season, having only lost once to Kingston College on penalty in the Walker Cup knockout competition. Despite pointing to the rough patches along the journey, Reynolds is pleased with their high success rate so far in a season which they are now poised to achieve a triple-crown feat.

“The fact that we are doing so well in both the Super Cup and Manning Cup we would have ended up going through a difficult period over the last two weeks in terms of the number of games that we have to get the team prepared to play over a short period of time. So to keep the team focused and ready, both physically and mentally, to navigate a difficult and hectic period has been our main challenge so far,” Reynolds noted.

“But, overall, I am pleased that we have no major injuries; the players are in good stead and they are motivated, but they would have realised that we have not achieved anything as yet. We still have a lot more work to be done both on and off the pitch, both physically and mentally, and so we continue to take it one game at a time to keep the lads grounded and continue to encourage them to be committed to the task at hand,” he added.

Reynolds explained that the coaching staff “focuses on a system that works best for us in not allowing teams to get us out of our comfort zone in terms of how we play”.

With many football enthusiasts disregarding Wolmer’s as a fierce attacking team, the coach, who is also employed as physical education and social studies educator at the institution, believes the newfound attacking ability of his team this season would have dispelled those claims.

“We make adjustments based on how we manage a game. We would have realised that the firepower was not as strong last year, and so most of the emphasis was on how we defend as a team in terms of a structure. This year we would have had more depth in the team, especially in attack, and so we would have been a little bit more fluent,” he explained.

“Having said that though, we still maintain our defensive discipline, because in order to win a title we still have to defend very well; not just defenders, but as a team. Once we are not in possession of the ball then everybody becomes defenders, so we sort of set up the team where that is concerned and we have been successful so far,” he concluded.