‘Ready for the big time’

Western Bureau:

WILLIAM KNIBB Memorial High School stamped their class as the top team in Zone C of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) daCosta Cup football competition with a 5-0 home win over Cedric Titus High School yesterday.

Both teams started the game on level peggings with 16 points on the zone table. However, William Knibb now boasts a mammoth 33-goal difference to Cedric Titus’ 10, and a three-point lead.

In a brilliant five-goal first-half performance from William Knibb, Jahiem Sankar score his second hat-trick of the season in his second start, knocking the wind out of the opposition.

Amari Christopher Reid gave the hosts the lead 10 minutes into the game before Sankar, who usually starts on the bench behind the prolific Mark Lewis, doubled the lead six minutes later. He returned for his second in the 20th minute before completing his hat-trick with a 37th-minute lob over the goalkeeper.

The calm and collected central defender, Orville Brown, netted his second goal of the season, heading home a corner four minutes before the break.

William Knibb took their foot off the gas in the second half but showed their defensive prowess, keeping Cedric Titus at bay.

Jamar Skyers would put the icing on the cake for the hosts in the 73rd minute with a tap-in at the back post after a goalkeeper’s partial save.

William Knibb coach Dwight Jeremiah said he had a score to settle after Monday’s 0-0 away encounter.

“We needed to make a statement after playing on a pitch at Cedric Titus that was not good to play our brand of football,” Jeremiah said.

“Last night, we had a chat with the boys who said they wanted to put on a show here today (yesterday) and show that they are ready for the big time. I had question marks over a few players, but give them credit, they stepped up to it,” he added.

William Knibb boasts the best defence in all of schoolboy football, which is a concept coach Jeremiah embraces.

“I have gotten these boys to appreciate defensive work, which is not easy to get schoolboys to do. The clean sheets have the same psychological effect as scoring a lot of goals. We now stand alone in schoolboy football as the only team that have not conceded a goal, which is massive,” Jeremiah said.

Coach of Cedric Titus, Wade Crawford, believes the back-to-back games took a toll on his team but said they are now looking forward to the second round.

“We came out lacklustre. I think playing so many games in the condition we are in took a toll on the guys. The result just put a rubber stamp on the performance because we didn’t play well,” Crawford said.

“We knew we had already qualified, which I think played on the mind of the guys. However, with a week or so to prepare for the second round, I think we can work out the kinks and refocus for the games coming up,” he said.