RUDOLPH Speid added to his already accomplished local coaching resume on Wednesday as defending champions Cavalier FC created history by reaching a fourth-straight Wray & Nephew Jamaica Premier League final. However, Speid says the spotlight should remain on his young players, who once again defied the odds to reach the stage.

Two-time defending champions Cavalier FC overturned their 0-1 first-leg deficit against Montego Bay United (MBU) to secure a 2-0 extra-time victory in the second leg and advance 2-1 on aggregate.

Kimarly Scott, the Excelsior High School Manning Cup champion, sent the game into extra time after heading home from a corner in the 54th minute. It was deja vu in the first period of extra time as the 18-year-old rose highest to meet another corner and head home the winner for Cavalier.

It marked a significant turnaround for Rudolph Speid’s side, which managed just one shot in the first leg while conceding nearly 70 per cent possession.

However, the Cavalier boss and Reggae Boyz interim head coach says the team’s deliberate defensive approach ultimately paid off.

“The truth is that me and the captain [Jeovanni Laing] have some long arguments about his role in this particular team and what he’s supposed to do. We decided that near to the play-offs that we’re going to clean up the defensive line and you can see the mark improvement,” Speid said.

“We never thought we were out of it, we just thought that we had to win differently and we always try [to] find a way and we thought this was one of the ways that we could win. If you notice, set plays were getting regular goals for us near the end of the season and it just carried on.”

After winning the last two JPL titles, many wrote off the young, transitioning Cavalier who at one point, were sitting as low as eighth in the table in February. The club lost an incredible 19 players including Reggae Boyz Richard King, Dwayne Atkinson and Jalmaro Calvin and also crashed out in the group stage of last year’s Concacaf Caribbean Cup as defending champions.

They eventually rallied to qualify for the play-offs by finishing sixth in the standings but it was their lowest league placing since the 2017/2018 seson when they regained promotion to the JPL.

Three-time JPL winning coach Speid says he heard the critics but believes his team deserves all the praise.

“Everybody say I can’t coach, so that’s not new,” he said. But about the club, everybody can know that we have a winning mentality, we choose the right players and the right players want to fight for the badge every single day and that’s what we’re all about.”

“The truth is, we are a family; everybody loves each other and we work together. When we lose, we lose together — when we win, we win together. Even from our training, we develop a winning mentality and I think that is what carried us over the line.”

The win also secured Cavalier FC a place in this year’s Caribbean Cup for a fourth consecutive season, an achievement highly valued by Speid.

“This was one of our aims to go back into the Caribbean Cup. Last year we didn’t do so well, we were really ashamed of our performance last year so were eager to get back there this year and this carries us back there automatically so we’re grateful.”

Cavalier will now meet Portmore United in the final on Sunday.

It was a disappointing end for MBU who were touted as favourites after topping the regular season table for over six months.

Head Coach Xavier Gilbert says he was shocked by his team’s effort on Wednesday.

“We were a little bit reckless, naïve on some occasions and it’s difficult for me to explain how some of the things unfolded because that certainly wasn’t the game plan,” he said. “Sometimes the attitude and the body language, I just didn’t like it and I’m not pleased with the way we performed. We tried in the end but we just couldn’t find that one goal.”

“We just didn’t execute. We were far from what we have shown all season. This just wasn’t us and we just had a poor showing,” Gilbert added.

MBU will now vie for third place and a spot in the CFU Club Shield when they take on Mount Pleasant Football Academy on Sunday.

Montego Bay United’s Malachi Sterling (left) dribbles away from Cavalier FC’s Christopher Ainsworth during the Wray & Nephew Jamaica Premier League second-leg semi-final football match at the National Stadium on Wednesday. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)