The North Street-based Kingston College claimed their 16th lien of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup football title after edging defending champions Jamaica College 5-4 on penalties at Stadium East on Saturday.
In their first Manning Cup final since 1975, Kingston College and Jamaica College were locked at 1-1 at the end of regulation, forcing the dreaded penalty kicks to decide the 2021-2022 champions.
In the end, Kingston College held their nerves to come out victories in sudden death penalties after they had given up the advantage during the mandatory five kicks when Christopher Pearson had his effort saved by the Jamaica College goalkeeper.
It was Pearson who was on hand to slot home the opener in the 29th minute for Kingston College, but captain Duncan McKenzie pulled Jamaica College level three minutes from the halftime interval with a grounded free-kick.
Neither team created anything real opening to deserve another goal, necessitating the tie-breaking penalties.
Jemone Barclay, Carrick Stewart, Romario Campbell, Luis Watson and Demario McCarthy scored spot-kicks for the winners, while Pearson missed the third spot-kick.
For Jamaica College, Romain Blake, Michael Graham, McKenzie, and Tarick Ximines found the net, while Giovanni Mitto, the fourth kicker, slammed his shot harmlessly over the crossbar.
During the sudden death, Raheem Fraser, who appeared more concentrated on pointing to one side of the goal in an attempt to psyche out the goalkeeper, shot tamely for goalkeeper David Martin to save with his foot.
Kingston College’s head coach Ludlow Bernard credited his players for adjusting to the game plan of Jamaica College.
“I loved the tactical adjustment that the players made on the pitch. They sat back and established a line… and basically said to JC, ‘You come at us.’ It frustrated them significantly and a lot of the balls that were going into our goalkeeper were wayward passes.
“We chose to take them on the counter and I think, as the game wore on, we managed to wear them down. In the second half we were probably dominating them but I think that we lacked the cutting edge,” he told the media.
“Congrats to the boys for really taking the penalty practices very seriously over the last couple of evenings. Coach Raymond Watson spent a lot of time, both with the kickers and the goalkeepers,” Bernard added.
Losing coach Davion Ferguson offered an explanation for his team’s loss.
“It was a game between two very good teams. I think tactically it was a very good battle, and over 90 minutes no team managed to separate itself. We were trying to go long instead of trying to play short [passes] to get a rhythm because once we put the ball on the ground we normally get behind them,” he said.
“Once we went to penalties it was anybody’s game. I think we got the ascendancy in the penalty shoot-out but we didn’t capitalize on that.”
Kingston College will now take on Garveo Maceo, winners of the DaCosta Cup for the Oliver Shield, symbol of schoolboy football supremacy.
