MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Former champions Dinthill Technical will lead a trio of schools seeking back to back wins in the quarter-finals of the ISSA/daCosta Cup football competition and strengthen their chances of qualifying for next month’s semi-finals.

Four games in the second set of matches in the quarter-finals will be played today and another four scheduled for tomorrow.

Dinthill Technical and Edwin Allen from Group One and Manning’s School from Group Two will all be seeking back to back wins after victories in Saturday’s opening set of games.

In another game today, two former winners, Vere Technical and Munro College, will be seeking their first win when they meet at Kirkvine in a Group Two game.

Dinthill Technical, the beaten finalists in 2019 the last time the competition was played, will face William Knibb Memorial and Edwin Allen High will take on Christiana High, both at Manchester High today and if they win, would set up a winner-take-all clash on Saturday with just the group winner qualifying for the semi-finals.

Also today, Manning’s School, the dark horse favourites in some quarters, will face Happy Grove High at Drax Hall.

After their loss to Edwin Allen on Saturday, William Knibb Memorial’s backs will be against the proverbial wall and they must win today if they are to stay in contention for a semi-final spot.

William Knibb have been one of the top teams in the competition, enjoying their best season in years, topping Zone A in the first round where they beat both Cornwall College and Herbert Morrison, scoring four goals in each game.

They must rediscover their scoring prowess today but will face the stingiest defence in the land as Dinthill Technical have not allowed a goal in eight games played.

Saturday was only the second time this season that William Knibb had failed to score in a game and today Mark Lewis and Tusaine Burgess, who found scoring relatively easy in the first round, must lead from the front.

Dinthill Technical got four goals from four players in their win on Saturday and Daeshanell Russell and Shamar Hutchinson could be the danger men against a William Knibb defence that has allowed nine goals already.

Edwin Allen proved their worth with a big win over Lennon High to advance from their first-round group and then against William Knibb on Saturday, and Christiana High could be in for another long afternoon after allowing four goals against Dinthill on Saturday.

After being held in check on Saturday, Richard Henry will hope to get back on the scoring sheet today and will have Ackeem Mullings and Jaheim Harris in support.

On Saturday, Manning’s School raced to an early 3-0 lead before they were severely tested by Vere Technical, then holding on for the win and they will hope to have things easier against Happy Grove today.

The slick-moving Westmoreland side have scored 11 goals in their last four games and face a Happy Grove team that played out a 1-1 draw against Munro College on Saturday.

At Kirkvine, both Vere Technical and Munro College will be seeking their first win as they look to stay close to the leaders.

Today’s games

Dinthill Tech vs William Knibb @ Manchester @ 1:00 pm

Edwin Allen vs Christiana @ Manchester @ 3:00 pm

Happy Grove vs Manning’s School @ Drax Hall @ 3:00 pm

Vere vs Munro College @ Kirkvine @ 3:00 pm