MANCHESTER, Jamaica – New Manchester High School head coach, Johnoy Chambers, waxed lyrically about the performance of his boys after they beat the previously unbeaten Manning’s School 2-1 to secure group honours in the quarter final round of the ISSA/WATA DaCosta Cup at the STETHS Oval on Tuesday.

The two teams went into the final game of the round secure in the knowledge that they would be playing in the semi-finals, but battling for group honours while putting their respective unbeaten records on the line.

When the dust settled it was Manchester High who prevailed and received glowing reviews from the man who took charge just this summer.

“I think today’s [Tuesday] performance was one of our better performances, if not the best. We moved the ball pretty well,” Chambers said.

Chambers agreed that the extreme heat under the early afternoon sun impacted the performance of both teams.

“In the latter stages of the first half, I think the heat got to us and that brought Manning’s back into the game, but they exerted a lot of energy in the last fifteen minutes when they scored the goal.

“But in the second half, the same thing that happened to us, happened to them. They exerted a lot of energy and they got punished. In the second half our fitness came into the forefront and that’s where the hard work came in, because we put in a lot of hard work,” he explained.

Chambers is certain that having missed out on the final four for the past seven seasons, everyone associated with Manchester High will be delighted with what they have achieved so far

“I am extremely happy for the boys, I am extremely happy for the school, so we are just going to push on and see what happens from there.

“It means a lot to the school community. We have been pushing for this over the years. A lot of investments have been made and we always fall short at the quarterfinal stage. Luckily this year we have finally bridged that barrier, we are into the semi-finals,” he said.

He declared that had had to overcome many, many challenges in order to achieve their minimum requirements for the season.

“It was about hard work and determination. We have been on a mission since May. There have been a lot of obstacles, but we overcome all the obstacles,” Chambers continued.

With only two wins now required to lift the trophy, Chambers is hopeful of success.

“We started off the season not so well, but we are finishing strongly. Every game we play the boys improve, and we are just aiming for the skies right now. We are into the semi-finals. Anything can happen from there,” he added.

On a personal level, Chambers is still trying to put into words how his maiden effort on the sidelines has been so far.

“Everything is like a dream really because it’s my first season as a head coach. I have been assisting some really good coaches from Mr (Barry) Watson, Sheldon Davis, Andrew Edwards and Vassell Reynolds, so I have been learning from all of them.

“Now I am being tutored by Vassell Reynolds and Patrick Graham so now I am just taking in everything. I couldn’t dream it up. It’s like living in a dream. I always fantasize about this, and I am living it, so I’m just living the dream right now,” he stated.

Manchester High will also be contesting the Champions Cup for the first time and a deep run in that competition would be icing on the cake for the debutant head coach.

“It would mean the world. I don’t think I can find the words right now to describe all of that, but we can’t look too far. We have a game coming up. We just have to plan for it, and just take it from there,” the coach said.

Having booked their spot in the prestigious all-island knock-out competition, Chambers is ready for whomever they will face on Saturday when the competition gets going.

“It doesn’t matter. Luckily in the preseason we would have played against a lot of the teams from Manning Cup including JC and KC, so we know what they are like, and we know what we are about, so anybody we get, we are quite happy, we will just plan for them and execute on the day,” Chambers added.

Having been seeded as quarterfinal group winners, Manchester High will face either Mona High or St Andrew Technical High School who are the unseeded Manning Cup teams in the draw.

The Champions Cup draw will be conducted tonight at 6:00 pm.