SOME people might be of the opinion that St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) have no right being in the final four of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup competition.

After originally finishing fourth in Group B, they were given a lifeline and a place in the quarter-finals when group winners Camperdown High and second-place Tivoli Gardens High were booted from the competition by ISSA for using ineligible players.

Placed in a group with champions Jamaica College, Walker Cup champions St Catherine High and Mona High, the inexperienced team from Bumper Hall were not expected to make it beyond the final eight but somehow defied the odds to make it to the final four.

Interestingly, they were 21 minutes away from elimination from the competition when Namar Nelson came off the bench to score his first-ever Manning Cup goal to secure the draw necessary against Mona High in their final quarter-final match, as STATHS qualified for the semi-final round for the fourth season in a row.

STATHS, in the past few seasons, have built their success on solid defence and brilliant goalkeeping, but with a makeshift shot-stopper in goal and a backline playing together at this level for the first time, their success has come from attacking prowess this season.

Led by a pair of Omar’s, who also lead the goalscoring charts in the Manning Cup, the Philip Williams-coached team will be looking to continue defying the odds by pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the season when they take on Kingston College, the only team in the Manning Cup not to have a lost a game this season.

Omar Laing with 13 goals and Omar Reid with eight goals are the top-scoring duo in the Corporate Area competition, but they will have their work cut out against a mean KC defence marshalled by Khalifa Richards.

KC have won all eight of their games so far. Five wins in the preliminary round saw them top Group C with a maximum 15 points, scoring 18 goals while conceding only one. They waltzed their way through the quarter-final round, scoring three more wins and eight more goals without conceding.

The attacking trio of Christopher Pearson (seven goals), Captain Jemone Barclay and late addition Ronardo Burgher (three goals) was able to overrun all the defences they faced in the second round with consummate ease, just as it was in the first round.

Despite fielding a different starting 11 for every game so far this season, Ludlow Bernard has got it right on each occasion and, blessed with a deep and talented squad, will be looking to turn back the challenge of the team that stopped him at this stage in 2017.

Their first-choice goalkeeper David Martin has not conceded a goal in a competitive game this season. He was ill and missed the game when KC conceded against St Catherine High in their final game of the first round.

KC will be looking to rebound from the Champions Cup loss on Saturday. They will respect the STATHS team but they will be looking to get the better of their opponents in order to get one step closer to fulfilling their aspiration of regaining the trophy they last won in 2019.

STATHS have been fast starters but notoriously poor finishers this season, in contrast to KC who have started quickly in most of their games and finished strongly, while finding late goals in many of them as well.

While STATHS’s Achilles heel has been closing out games this term, KC have not had that problem once. As a result, the famed “Purples” will start firm favourites, but the boys in red and yellow are not to be underestimated, not with their qualification for the semi-finals coming in the way that it did.

This game has all the makings for a very intriguing contest between tactically astute coaches and it may well come down to the discipline of their respective charges to determine the outcome of the contest.

The last time these two teams met in the 2019 semi-finals, STATHS ran out surprise winners on penalty kicks and will fancy their chances of springing yet another surprise. But Ludlow Bernard will likely remind his charges of recent history and the need to ensure that it doesn’t repeat itself at their expense.

The game is scheduled for a 3:15 pm start at Stadium East after Jamaica College and Charlie Smith meet in the opening game at 1:00 pm.

— Dwayne Richards