Weather holds key to today's start of Manning round two

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Former champions St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) will, weather permitting, oppose Eltham in today's feature in Group One of the second round of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup competition at the Spanish Town Prison Oval in St Catherine starting 3 p.m.

In the first match of the double-header, Waterford will entertain Charlie Smith, starting at 1 p.m.

The ISSA secretariat, when contacted yesterday afternoon, said no decision had yet been taken on whether the games would be postponed. Rain from Tropical Storm Tomas is expected to impact the island today. Several other sporting events, including the ISSA/Digicel urban schoolgirls netball competition, were postponed yesterday. The matches have been set for next Wednesday, November 10, at the Stadium Courts.

In today's opening game, the Floyd Coke-coached Waterford, who ended unbeaten atop Group A, ahead of Jamaica College, should get the better of Charlie Smith, who finished runners-up to Excelsior in the Group C.

The St Catherine-based Waterford will look to their inspirational striker Andre McFarlane, who has netted nine goals so far this season, along with Theodore Thomas, Romain Gibbons and Rohan Daley to lead their charge for victory.

The Jerome Waite-coached Charlie Smith, who finished runners-up in Group C behind winners Excelsior, will look to captain Omar Pryce along with Jovani Simms, Kemar Brown and Lennox Russell to achieve a win.

The Eltham-STATHS match is expected to be keenly contested, as both teams play a similar style of attacking football.

Unbeaten eltham

The St Catherine-based Eltham, who ended Group F unbeaten with maximum 36 points, are very confident going into today's encounter against STATHS, who qualified for the second round as one of the best second-place teams.

"This is a very important game for us because we need to get off to a winning start," said Gregory Allen, coach of Eltham. " We haven't lost a game in the Manning Cup competition so far and we would like to continue on this trend, but we just have to stay focused and play hard and win the game."

Allen added: "We know that the STATHS team is a quality one and so I am expecting a tough game from them. However, I believe that once my players remain disciplined and put away our chances, then we should come out winners on the day."

Striker Jason Wallace, who has netted 12 goals in this year's competition so far, along with Jerome Grant, Steven Moran, Ramiz Gordon and Damion Binns, will lead Eltham's charge.

Meanwhile, Phillip Williams, coach of the STATHS, said he was very optimistic of a victory.

"Three points is very important in this second round because we only have three games to get as many points as we possibly can, and so this is crucial game for us against a very strong opponent.

"My guys are very confident that they can win tomorrow's game because the energy level in training this week was very high, and so I am expecting a very good all-round performance from them," Williams said yesterday.

STATHS will be depending heavily on the likes of Gevany Howell, Odane Elson and Carton Dixon to lead their team to victory.