Having secured their spot in the ISSA/Wata Manning Cup quarter-final, Excelsior High’s Head Coach Keon Broderick says his team deserves a title and can go all the way.

Excelsior High have not won the Manning Cup since their back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004, which means a generation of their students have not witnessed the sweet taste of success in the last 20 years.

“The sky is the limit for the team. Like I’ve said in a past interview, we have a couple of boys here who would have lost the U-16 finals last year and we have a next set of boys within this squad who would have lost the Walker Cup finals,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“So, as a programme, as a unit, we are hungry to get a title back here at Mountain View Avenue and we are working assiduously to keep them focused to get that title here.”

Broderick is one of the most promising and sought-after young coaches, having made a name for himself at Vauxhall High School before moving to Excelsior High.

Only recently, he was appointed assistant head coach to Vassell Reynolds at Harbour View FC, a coach he was looking forward to facing in the quarter-finals had Kingston College (KC) not been eliminated in a 2-2 draw with Calabar High yesterday.

However, Excelsior, which started promisingly against Tivoli Gardens, where they scored three goals before the hour mark, missed a penalty in the second half. Then, they allowed Tivoli Gardens back into the game before holding on to win 3-2. The team looked tired and Broderick believes he knew why.

“I mean, we were off for a little bit over a month,” he explained as the Manning Cup was postponed due the passage of Hurricane Melissa. “We were playing games, but I mean nothing beats the competitive games and you cannot replicate the competitive games.

“We didn’t look so bad in the stats game, which means that I am not thinking that it is not about them not being fit. It’s just about them being fatigued, the close turnaround playing Friday and having to come back and play Tuesday. So, the body was not fully recovered and it was evident here, especially in the latter part of the second half.

“It was a game of two halves. We did very well in the first half, especially scoring two goals. We came out in the second half to score that early goal. I think the boys actually felt a little bit overly confident, a little bit too arrogant.

“Moving forward, we have to do better in those situations, especially when we’re in front, to actually focus and get the job done just the same. We have to keep going until the whistle blows.”

Wednesday’s Manning Cup results

St Jago 2, Eltham 3

Mona 2, Jamaica College 2

Hydel 1, Campion 1

Kingston College 2, Calabar 2