Ronardo Burgher has hit the ground running for Kingston College (KC) after joining up with the team late in the first round of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup competition.

The striker got his first start against St. Catherine High in the final game of the first round and scored in his team’s 2-1 win.

He was given the nod by coach Ludlow Bernard to start against Charlie Smith High in their first quarterfinal last Saturday and scored a second half header to put his team 2-0 up just past the hour mark.

A true “number 9”, Burgher enjoys playing with his back to goal something that was missing from the KC attack early in the season. Their captain Jemone Bartley was employed in that position at the start of the campaign and struggled to score, finding the back of the net in only the third match of the season.

But Bartley has hit the ground running and is delighted with his rate of return in a KC attack that has been averaging 3.5 goals per game so far this season.

“I wasn’t here for personal reasons and coming back to score two goals in two games is absolutely good for a striker, but most important are the three points,” he said after the win over Charlie Smith.

While Bartley prefers to run at players down the flanks, Burgher revels in playing with his back to goal and sees his role as vital to KC’s success.

“We definitely need a number 9 for the playing style of the Kingston College team. A number 9 to drop for the ball, hold it up, play through the wing backs, because definitely those are the strengths of our team,” he explained.

It is clear that Burgher’s role will be vital to KC’s ambitions of winning trophies this season but the player himself is not willing to overstate his own importance to the cause.

“I am glad to be here to help out,” he said.

KC have two more games to play in the quarterfinals as they look to cement a spot in the final four and Burgher is confident of that happening.

“We are definitely on a good path, I would say, winning all games so definitely we are good to go through.”

KC will play Kingston Technical High School today at 1:00pm at the Stadium East Field and win in that match will guarantee them a place in the final four.

-Dwayne Richards