THE big four in the Pepsi/Sports Plus Manning Cup competition will attempt to clear the final hurdle this afternoon which will see the winners through to Saturday's final.
Kingston College (KC) lead the pack of survivors and will open the National Stadium doubleheader against three-time champions Camperdown at 1:30. Dunoon Technical take on Norman Manley Comprehensive at 3:30.
The coaches have been fine-tuning their teams and it appears that the passage to the final will be rough.
KC's coach, Stratton Palmer, said it would not be an easy task to reach the final but believed his team was well prepared to meet the challenges ahead.
"I am expecting a keen fight from Camperdown but we are prepared to fight," said Palmer.
KC advanced out of a very tough quarter-final group in which they battled to a 1-1 draw with Denham Town before breezing past hyped-up St. Anne's Comprehensive and Wolmer's High by 2-0 scorelines.
On the otherhand, Camperdown qualified as the best second-placed team after they finished behind Dunoon in their quarter-final group. But coach Barrington Gaynor is not worried about that statistic.
"We feel we deserve to be here," said the former national player who also coaches Bull Bay's Major League team and is active as a player in the National Premier League for champion Harbour View.
Norman Manley and Dunoon Technical are evenly matched. But what is important is that Norman Manley look superior offensively. They have rammed in six goals in their three quarter-final matches after battling to a goalless affair with Tivoli Comprehensive; while Dunoon have only netted three.
There are injury problems in Dunoon's camp ahead of the game.
Assistant coach Stanford Patrick said left wing-back Geovanni Anderson and linkman Richard Edwards had slight injuries, but they are expected to play.
