Dr Dean Weatherly grabs at Cornwall’s lifeline

WESTERN BUREAU:

Cornwall College (CC) are seeking to capitalise on being gifted a lifeline in their quest to reach the second round of the ISSA/Digicel daCosta Cup football competition when they take on St James High at Jarrett Park today.

CC, with a win today, will leapfrog Maldon, who occupy the second qualification spot in Zone A. This was made possible after Maldon drew 1-1 with St James High on Tuesday in their must-win game. That result left Maldon just two points ahead of CC. Irwin are already through to the next round after unassailably topping the zone.

Coach Dr Dean Weatherly, despite CC not having a good season, is hoping to get his players in the frame of mind for what he describes as a "final".

The 12-time champions have lost four matches but will take confidence from their defeat of St James High in their home leg last month, despite it being a narrow 1-0 win.

"We have to approach it like a final. It's all or nothing. We can't go there leaving anything in the tank. We have to start gunning early and can't let up. We need a positive result, a draw or losing can't help us," Weatherly said.

"We expect it to be a very tight and hard-fought game. For some of the youths, we have to get the butterflies out of their stomach so they are not too tense. We need them to relax so they can enjoy the game and then we can take it from there," he added.

Assistant coach of St James High, Michael Reid, noted that they have unfinished business with their zone rivals and are looking to put in another spirited performance.

"St. James High is about integrity so the team is going out there to do our best. Cornwall put a damper on our plans this year because it was that defeat that deflated the team morale going into the Green Pond game. We have a score to try and settle," Reid said.