Norman Manley hunt STATHS scalp

Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

Three-time champions Norman Manley, will put their unbeaten record in this season's competition on the line today when they travel to St Andrew Technical High School's (STATHS) playfield to do battle with last year's semi-finalist STATHS in today's feature match of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup starting at 3:30 p.m.

The Miguel Coley-coached Norman Manley, which reached the quarter-finals last year easily got by Mona 3-0 in their opening encounter before clipping Meadowbrook 1-0 in their latest outing.

The Maxfield Avenue-based school, which last won the competition in 2002 is beaming with confidence ahead of today's game.

Very confident

"We are very confident because we know our ability," said Coley. "We didn't play as well last Friday (against Meadowbrook) but that resulted from the fact that we didn't have any practice games during the summer. I see where the guys are developing chemistry and I plan to start my strongest team on Monday (today). So we are going down there to win the game definitely," he added.

"STATHS is a quality team over the years, they possess the ball well, so we are going to try and let them play without the ball. We are going to try to keep the ball as much as possible, allowing them to do a lot of running and a lot of chasing."

STATHS having suffered a 1-0 defeat to Penwood in their most recent encounter, following their opening 2-0 win over Holy Trinity, will be looking to get maximum points at home, according to coach Philip Williams.

"It is a home game, so we plan to be on the offensive, keep them off their game and try to play our game," said Williams. "The plan was to get the win on Friday and come into this game with all guns blazing," he added.

Both teams have injury concerns going into the game, as Norman Manley will be without their central defender, Rushane Lewis, while STATHS centre half Shevar Reynolds is doubtful.

Today's games

Group B

Dunoon Technical vs Jose Marti

Tivoli vs Bridgeport

Ascot vs Vauxhall

Group D

STATHS vs Norman Manley

Meadowbrook vs Mona

Penwood vs Holy Trinity

Group F

Kingston College vs Tarrant

Eltham vs St Catherine

Jonathan Grant vs Campion