Oniel Thomas guided Dinthill Technical to the final four of the ISSA/Digicel Champions Cup for the very first time as they crushed St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) 5-1 in the quarter-finals at St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex on Wednesday.

After conceding first, the top team in the DaCosta Cup this season produced an immediate response which they built upon to cruise to victory against the team from Bumper Hall in Kingston.

Thomas said preparation for the game had been light but specific.

“We really took a short break and then we came back and prepared. We worked on the necessary things like finishing and ball playing, we didn’t put in a lot of physical work. You could see it out there on the field and we got the result that we wanted,” he said.

The goal scored by Leon Brown of STATHS was the first conceded by the team from Linstead in St Catherine and Thomas was left disappointed that their run of nine clean sheets has come to an end.

“Even though it’s a different league, we really didn’t want any goals to be scored on us, but it’s all in the game. We played against a top-four team, and they have been scoring goals.

“It’s a form of indiscipline that allowed that to happen and I didn’t like it, but we won 5-1 and we responded immediately after we conceded and we could have scored more goals, but all is well,” Thomas noted.

The tactician is expecting a tough semi-final, but has promised to be ready for the challenge this weekend.

“It’s always going to be a good team to face in the semi-finals. We are not really counting the chickens before they hatch. We are going to prepare and be ready again come Saturday.”

It is the first time that the experienced coach will be at this stage of the competition which makes him happy.

“It is the first time that Dinthill is progressing to the semi-final. For me it is good and for the school and the players, this is very good. I am very happy about that,” he said.

Despite making it to the semi-finals, things could have been very different for Dinthill had it not been for the stance taken by the players.

“To tell you the truth, we were planning to let some other people play. I am not saying that this competition is not important, everybody wants to win a triple or a double, but the DaCosta Cup is very important to us, but the players want (the Champions Cup). They want to go far in both competitions, so kudos to them,” Thomas stated.

The prize for advancing to the semi-finals on Saturday is a clash with Jamaica College, the very first winners of the all-island knock-out competition.

— Dwayne Richards