Having booked their spot in the second round of the ISSA/Manning Cup competition following a 3-1 victory over Spanish Town in Zone D on Thursday, St Andrew Technical High School’s (STATHS) Phillip Williams says his team still has a lot of work to do before they move into the next phase of the tournament.

STATHS, who made it to the semi-finals of last year’s competition, were led to victory courtesy of a double from Shakeone Satchwell in the eighth and 78th minutes, in the Bumper Hall contest.

Alexavier Gooden was the other scorer for STATHS, hitting the target in the 74th minute. Maleke Brown netted for Spanish Town in the 34th.

The win has moved to STATHS to 21 points, one ahead of Jonathan Grant. They are followed by Norman Manley, 16, Tarrant and Dunoon on six each, and Spanish Town on three.

Williams said his team played in patches throughout the contest, quickly admitting that quantum improvement is required for the second round of the competition.

“I am not really pleased about our performance because I think playing against Spanish Town we could have done a lot better in terms of how we kept the ball and our choices in and round the final third,” said Williams.

“However, the three points is what we wanted and that is what we got from this match but the performance is something that we have to go back and work on,” added..

Williams noted that their main focus this season is to make it into the final of the competition.

“We have to do much better because the second round is where the qualities are and to beat any team in the round, you have to put together a solid 90 minutes,” he stated.

“Our aim is to win the competition because we were in the semi-finals last year and we want to go much further this year,” he continued..

In the Spanish Town High matchup, STATHS were very quick out of the blocks as they took the lead early when Satchwell arrived at the near post to head home a corner kick from his teammate Delaney Whyte.

However, the hosts were stunned when Brown netted the equaliser for Spanish Town with a beautiful curling shot against the run of play as the first half ended 1-1.

STATHS took command of the match in the second stanza as they went ahead when Gooden scored a powerful header from a corner kick. Satchwell wrapped up the victory for his team when he converted from the penalty spot after the ball was handled inside the 18 yards box by Spanish Town defender Trey Chambers.

THURSDAY’S RESULTS

St Andrew Technical 3, Spanish Town 1

Norman Manley 2, Dunoon 0

Jonathan Grant 1, Tarrant 0.

— Robert Bailey