QRC coach Kenwyne Jones: I believed in my team

HEAD coach of Queen's Royal College (QRC) Kenwyne Jones knew his players had the ability after his players pulled off an upset win over defending Intercol champions and this year's Secondary Schools Football League champions Fatima College on Thursday.

QRC went into the Coca-Cola North zone Intercol semi-final match as underdogs, but delivered a quality performance to emerge with a stunning 2-1 victory at Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.

The scenes were jubilant as the QRC students, still in uniform at 7.30 pm, celebrated with the players by clapping and singing.

When QRC and Fatima met during the league campaign, the latter won convincingly 7-1. Fatima were hoping to complete the double this season after winning the 16-team premier division league title a few weeks ago. QRC finished 11th in the standings.

Jones told Newsday he saw the improvement in his team after ending the league competition with a 2-2 draw against Speyside Secondary and a 2-0 win over Arima North Secondary.

"Those are the type of performances I have been asking for all season," he said after the victory over Fatima. "Unfortunately, with all the different factors that come in, you tend to get inconsistency with the youth, but we have been on a nice run, and I think we had the hardest run to get to the North final. If you want to be champions and you want to get over that hurdle, you going to have to take the hard route."

Before playing Fatima, QRC edged Malick Secondary 2-1 in the North zone quarter-finals. QRC will battle St Anthony's College in the North zone Intercol final on Thursday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. The Tigers of St Anthony's won their semi-final match 3-0 over East Mucurapo, which was also contested on Thursday.

Jones said he always believed in his players, but they are now starting to show their quality.

"I have always had (belief), regardless of how the season went so far. I have always had 100 per cent belief, because the team has the ability to be at the top.

"What I try to drill into them is that focus and that consistency in going out every day at training and the games when you play. You can't afford to bring it on when you feel like. The better teams and the players that are consistently good, is because they bring that consistency every day."