‘We should have won the game in 90 minutes,’ says JC’s Ferguson
Jamaica College’s (JC) quest to win the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Champions Cup for the first time since it was renamed will extend for yet another year as they were bumped from the competition by first-time finalists Dinthill Technical on Saturday.
The “True Blue” went down 4-5 on penalties after playing out a 0-0 draw during regulation time in the second semi-final at Stadium East.
It was a tight and cagey affair between two evenly matched teams with very little goal-mouth action to speak of. However, JC Head Coach Davion Ferguson believes his team should have got the job done before it went down to the dreaded penalty kicks.
“I think over 90 [minutes], we should have won the game,” he said.
“I think Dinthill are a very good team. They have a lot of threats all over the field, but I think we controlled the threats for the most part. But once you go to the penalty kicks anything is possible, and we have to say congratulations to them.”
Ferguson was pleased with how his team defended and were able to restrict one of the most potent attacks in schoolboy football this season.
“Apart from one or two moments where they got a small look-in, they did not get a clear-cut chance over 90 minutes and that is remarkably well in terms of how we defended collectively,” he said.
He hailed the mature performance of both teams which, he thought, led to so few goalscoring opportunities being created during the match.
“We didn’t really allow them that space to run, to get in their rhythm, because we knew exactly that once they get in that rhythm they are very dangerous. What we wanted to do was really manage the moments, manage the game. I think it’s more maturity on the parts of the teams in trying to manage the occasion instead of trying to play gung-ho,” he pointed out.
JC will next turn their attention to the Manning Cup semi-finals and their head coach believes that the incentive of trying to retain their title will be enough for the boys to be up mentally for the game against Charlie Smith.
“The incentive of the Manning Cup is normally enough to motivate them. We will get them recovered and we will prepare for the game on Tuesday,” he said.
— Dwayne Richards