STATHS coach aware of how to reverse Manning Cup hoodoo
Published:Sunday | December 14, 2025 | 12:14 AMGregory Bryce - Staff Reporter
St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) are no strangers to the semi-finals of the ISSA/WATA Manning Cup but after years of falling short at the last hurdle, head coach Phillip Williams said they are ready to challenge for the title once again.
STATHS has stamped their pedigree as one of the top contenders in schoolboy football over the past few years.
But despite their talent, the school has been unable to claim the Manning Cup title despite coming close on multiple occasions.
In the last eight years, STATHS has made it to the finals of the Manning Cup on three occasions, falling short each time.
In fact, during that same period, STATHS has been eliminated from schoolboy football competitions on penalty shootouts on six different occasions.
Their latest disappointment came last year, when they were edged 4-3 on penalties by Mona High in the semi-finals of the ISSA Walker Cup knockout competition.
Williams said these past failures have proven to be a learning lesson for the programme which last lifted the title in 1987.
He explained while they are yet to be outplayed by an opponent, they have ended up on the wrong side of the results by not holding their nerves in decisive moments.
This year’s priority, Williams said, has been to mentally prepare his players for when those decisive moments present themselves once again.
“We know where we fell short. It’s about holding our nerves at the right time when the moments present themselves,” the STATHS head coach said.
“If you look at the games where we lost, we haven’t been outplayed tactically nor technically, but it is a matter of us not keeping our nerves in the penalty shoot-outs.
“So mentally we have worked on the guys for those occasions and see where it takes us from there.”
They have proven their ability to perform when the pressure is on during their run in the quarter-final round.
Having lost to Eltham High 4-1 in their opening game, STATHS faced the uphill task of qualifying from the group and did so in confident fashion.
They bounced back from the opening defeat to thump Calabar 4-1 in their second game, and then clipped Vauxhall High 1-0 in their final game to book their spot in the final round.
After the Vauxhall game, Williams said it was not their usual performance but he was proud to see his players achieve their season’s objectives.
“It wasn’t pretty, there are a lot of areas that we definitely need to work on if we are to make an impact in the semi-finals but I’m happy for the team and we’ll celebrate in the moment,” he said.
“The result is what we wanted. Where we are now in the semi-finals is what we had planned for so we have to plan going ahead and look at the semi-finals.”
However, Williams sounded a call of concern as he lamented his team’s faulty shooting this season.
STATHS squandered a number of opportunities when facing Vauxhall, an ongoing trend for the boys from Spanish Town Road.
Williams said if they are to finally lift the elusive crown, they will need to be more clinical in front of goal.
“We have to look at the chances and there were easy chances that should have been put away. That is something that has been plaguing us all season.”