Cornwall clash a test of strength and character - Gordon

Merron Gordon, coach of Garvey Maceo High School, said that this afternoon's encounter against 2016 champions Cornwall College will truly test his team's readiness for an ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup title challenge this season.

The game will be the first of the St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) Sports Complex's double-header starting at 3:00 p.m. In the second game, Clarendon College will be putting their perfect run on the line when they face Manchester High School at 5 p.m. Five other daCosta Cup quarterfinal games will take place today.

"I think whosoever wins the group might just win the competition. I think our group is tough, and all the teams in the group are actually playing in the right type of form. In the other groups, I think some teams had an easy game prior to this (quarterfinals), but every game was tough for us to come through," said Gordon.

Garvey Maceo and Cornwall are in Group 4, which also includes Charlemont and Glenmuir.

"Cornwall College are probably the favourites in the group based on recent history. I watched them (won 3-1) and Charlemont the other day and it was a tough game. I know every game is going to be tough right down to the end in the sense that teams can get a result in the 90th minute," he added.

"Saturday (today) is going to be tough for us, but the guys are in good spirits. Mentally, I'm where I should be now, especially seeing Cornwall play. I would suspect they saw us play on Wednesday as well, so I expect it to be a good game playing at STETHS."

Garvey Maceo is one of only two schools that are boasting a perfect run in the competition so far. After scoring 47 goals and conceding only two from their 13 games to date, the team that was not seen as a contender despite the arrival of the 2016 Ben Francis winning coach, is now being labelled a serious threat for the title.

Gordon said that while taking home the title on December 8 is their long-term goal, they are focused on clearing the hurdles one at a time in getting there.

"I don't put that pressure on the team. When we started, like any other school that invests strongly in schoolboy football, we had an end date of December 8 mind. I decided that we are going to build, we are going to fix what can be fixed, and what we can't fix individually, we are going to use a team effort to fix," said Gordon

"However, it is possible all 16 teams here now are eying that December 8, for the last day of schoolboy football. We are working, taking it a game at a time. We have a strong Cornwall College team to play on Saturday (today), which is my main focus right now," he added.

 

Today's ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup Fixtures:

 

- Frome v Port Antonio Juici Beef Complex 1:00 pm

- STETHS v Dinthill Juici Beef Complex 3:00 pm

- St James v Old Harbour Manchester High 3:00 pm

- Petersfield v Lennon Frome Sports Complex 3:00 pm

- Garvey Maceo v Cornwall College STETHS Sports Complex 3:00 pm

- Charlemont v Glenmuir Prison Oval 3:00 pm

- Clarendon College v Manchester STETHS Sports Complex 5:00 pm