After suffering one of the biggest defeats in the history of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/Digicel Manning Cup, Pembroke Hall High Head Coach Keith Johnson says he’s trying to change the culture within his team, labelling some of his players as “quitters”.

Pembroke Hall went down 0-18 away to many-time champions Jamaica College (JC) at the Ashenheim Stadium on Wednesday. Nashordo Gibbs led the rout with a hat-trick while five different players scored two goals each.

The game was virtually over inside 45 minutes as JC had a seven-goal advantage heading into half-time. However, there was no sign of mercy from the Old Hope Road-based boys as they added a further 11 in the second half.

The result was no surprise to Johnson who has been extremely disappointed with the team’s approach to preparation.

“One thing I learnt about football: if you don’t train, after 30 minutes in a game, it’s going to take a toll. These guys don’t like to train; if you train one day, a you alone on the playing field the next,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “You can’t train three months to compete in the Manning Cup, that’s a no no.”

The school returned to the urban area competition in 2023 after a two-year hiatus following the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, they’ve lost 14 of their last 15 games and have conceded close to 90 goals in the process.

Johnson says many of the team’s issues are deep-rooted but no one has stepped up to assist.

“If you stand and watch those players, they can’t be a team. It’s just individuals and I’m trying to mold them as a team but it’s the hardest thing to do,” he said.

“I went to the guidance counsellor to say we need a meeting with her to see if she can get through to these guys. All now she nuh come, so I just have to go day by day and any player who comes, just has to play.”

With three games to go and rooted at the bottom of the table, Johnson has no intentions of waving the white flag.

“I have one motto: whatever I start, I have to finish. That’s what I’m trying to instil in them. The thing is we have a lot of quitters around us so I have to force them just to finish. No matter the score, I just want them to complete the game and then we take it to the next year,” he said.

It was JC’s biggest win in the history of the Manning Cup but Assistant Coach Raymond Watson didn’t find a lot of joy in hammering their opponents.

“It’s hard, believe me. I can’t judge the team based on this,” he said.

“However, goals are a premium so to get the ball in the back of the net, I have to commend the players. Especially because we put a lot of youngsters out there and I thought they scored more goals than the so-called first-choice players, so I still have to be grateful because goalscoring is a habit, so building on that is very good.”

JC moved a step closer to the next round with the win and lead Zone F on 13 points but Watson’s main concern is his players’ health.

“We have some niggles and we’re hoping that we can get over them. However, if that’s not the case, we have to just work with what we have. Managing the boys isn’t difficult because the games in this round are not really hard and you have days to recover but when you get niggles and injuries, it takes a time to treat and get over them,” he explained.

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS

Jamaica College 18, Pembroke Hall 0

Calabar 1, Haile Selassie 0

St George’s 5, Papine 0

Eltham 6, Ardenne 0

Bridgeport 4, Ascot 0STATHS 1, Vauxhall 0 St Mary’s College 1, St Jago 6