daCosta Cup: William Knibb look to rebound against tough Dinthill

William Knibb Memorial High will look to rebound from last Saturday's damaging defeat by Edwin Allen High when they face high-flying Dinthill Technical in their ISSA/daCosta Cup quarter-final group match at Manchester High School today.

The Falmouth-based William Knibb went down 2-0 to Edwin Allen in Saturday's first of three quarter-final round games in Group One.

"I know it's going to be a difficult game," William Knibb coach Dwight Jeremiah said yesterday. "Saturday's result puts us in a difficult position but one thing is for certain, we couldn't qualify by winning our first game or be eliminated by losing. If we win tomorrow, then that really open things up in this zone which could mean three teams ending up on six points. With that being said, we are going out there to win what will be a tough game against an in-form Dinthill."

Jeremiah has acknowledged that the bulk of the teams' 21 goals to date have come from centre-forward Mark Lewis who has netted nine in eight games. He, however, dismissed claims of dependency.

"No, I wouldn't think so,"Jeremiah said. "Yes, he has scored the bulk of our goals but we have eight different scorers so far. (Tusaine) Burgess has four and (Jaymar) Skyers has three, so while Lewis has shouldered the burden there isn't an over reliance. I know it's a lot of responsibility on a young lad's shoulders but he has done well and I expect him to be ready again tomorrow."

Dinthill will be tough to beat. They are yet to concede from their seven games while scoring 19 goals to date. They will be up against a somewhat fragile William Knibb back line that has allowed nine goals this season.

Dinthill coach, O'neil Thomas, says their aggressive approach won't change in this game as the three points are crucial.

"We are going in the same way, hard as ever," Thomas said. "This game could help decide things for us but we are looking at it one game at a time. We just have to do what we have to do to get the three points. I don't know anything about any team in this group. We are just going to play the football that we can and look to be consistent as we have been so far," he added.

Other games

3 p.m: Edwin Allen vs Christiana - Manchester High

3 p.m: Happy Grove vs Manning's - Drax Hall

3 p.m: Vere vs Munro College - Kirkvine