Wedderburn, Duckie expect tough KO decider
CLARENDON PARK, Clarendon — STETHS Coach Omar Wedderburn is expecting a highly charged affair when his team tackle Manchester High in the ISSA/Flow Ben Francis Knockout final today at Juici Park.
Kick-off is set for 2:45 pm.
Both sides advanced to the final with narrow, but contrasting semi-final wins in midweek, Manchester edging Lennon High 2-1 in extra-time, while STETHS needed sudden death penalties to beat Dinthill Technical 7-6.
This is also their fourth championship meeting between them in the past seven years, with STETHS winning the previous three encounters.
But Wedderburn said: “It is not going to be an easy game because, you know there is a big rivalry between the two teams. But we want to defend our title, so we are prepared to go out there and play hard.”
And he believes Tuesday’s victory over Dinthill will further boost their confidence. “This was a championship performance from my team,” he said. “Not in the sense of winning the title today, but what we did here will only give us more confidence to successfully defend our title.”
The Manchester coach, Donovan Duckie, who also expects a tough game, admits that his team’s record against STETHS is poor. But, referencing their most recent match-up against the Santa Cruz school, a 1-1 result in last season’s inter-zone round, Duckie thinks they might well have the psychological advantage.
“If you are looking at history, STETHS obviously has the edge. We have been to three finals and lost all three to them. But those weren’t Donovan Duckie’s teams,” he said.
“Last year was my first season and we went to STETHS and had them chasing the game until the last four minutes when they equalised. So if you ask me, this set of players have nothing to fear. They have never lost to STETHS.”
Saying that, though, Duckie does expect a tough challenge from the five-time defending Ben Francis champions.
“I have a lot of respect for Mr (Wendell) Downswell (STETHS’s technical director). He’s a very astute coach, so I expect them to be very prepared. But they will also be mindful of what we can do.”
“And also,” he added, “this is a final, so the team that handles the stage the best, with a little bit of luck, will win”.
