Kingston College (KC) set up the dream Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup final with Jamaica College (JC) after they came from behind twice to get past a plucky St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) 4-2 in the semi-finals at Stadium East field on Tuesday.

STATHS boast the best attacking duo in the Manning Cup in their Captain Omar Reid and Omar Laing and it was the pair that threatened to spoil the KC party early on.

Reid opened the scoring for STATHS when he pounced after just six minutes, then Jaheim Johnson drew KC level in the 11th minute. Laing put STATHS in front once more in the 21st minute, forcing KC Head Coach Ludlow Bernard to go to his bench early.

The changes came in defence and then in attack, which eventually saw the boys from North Street take control of the game to secure the victory with goals coming from Ronardo Burgher in the 59th minute, substitute Luis Watson in the 68th, and Christopher Pearson in the 75th.

Bernard was not surprised by the fast start of the STATHS team.

“We expected the St Andrew Technical team to come at us which they did. They got two goals very early in the game and that set us on the back foot,” he said.

Bernard also explained that he had informed his team that changes would come early should there be a repeat of the blunders seen in the Champions Cup semi-final, which they lost to Clarendon College last weekend.

“As you realise, coming out of the game on Saturday, we had some frailties in defence and the riot act was read to a couple individuals, that if they didn’t get it right, we were going to make the changes.

“That’s exactly what happened and we got some stability eventually and that probably provided the momentum that was necessary for us to go and look the goals,” Bernard noted.

He praised the character shown by the lads to come from behind twice against a talented STATHS team.

“What it also did was to show quite a bit of character from our players because, irrespective of who you are playing against, going behind against a team in a semi-final can be burdensome. So they showed a lot of spirit, a lot of character against a very, very talented St Andrew Technical team,” he stated.

Bernard believes the challenges that his team faced in the semi-finals will serve them well in the final against JC.

“I think at the end of the day the might and the power of the Kingston College team prevailed and I think that is going to provide a lot of strength and a source of determination for us when we move on to the next game,” he asserted.

Despite coming onto the pitch just before half-time, Luis Watson was named Man of the Match and Bernard explained why that came to be.

“We designed the formation and the team plan around him at that point because we know his strengths with the throw-ins and we know his strengths with the crosses and we know his strengths getting into wide areas coming from deep.”

Watson provided an assist for the equaliser scored by Burgher before putting his team 3-2 ahead in the contest.

The final will be played next week Saturday at the Stadium East field starting at 3:00 pm.

— Dwayne Richards