CHARLIE Smith High are set to battle Excelsior High for the top spot in Group B of the ISSA/LIME Manning Cup Football Competition.

The group also includes Cumberland High, Mona High and Vauxhall High.

Charlie Smith, who retained the core of last season’s exciting squad, will be hard to contain and should secure one of the two spots into the second round.

Last season they matched St George’s College stride-for-stride in Group D and ended with 23 points, but finished second only by goal difference. This year, a similar battle is expected with an Excelsior team that topped Group B last year.

Veteran coaches Lebert Halliman of Excelsior High and Jerome Waite of Charlie Smith are expected to guide their teams safely into the second round with minimum fuss.

Despite finishing at the bottom of Group H, which also included Jamaica College, Hydel High and Kingston College, in the second round last season, Charlie Smith are being touted for at least a top four spot this season and Waite is confident of doing well.

“I always expect tough games from all the teams. A lot of people might look at it more like a walkover for Charlie Smith and Excelsior. But I expect it to be competitive and the real competition will be up against the Excelsior team,” Waite noted.

Waite, who led Charlie Smith to the title in 1995, said he has lost one defender in Shaquille Dwyer, who now plays for Arnett Gardens. His midfield will be new but the forward line remains the same.

“This team will take it one step at a time and based on how consistent they work I am looking for them to reach the top four and hopefully I can take it from there,” said Waite.

Meanwhile, the Mountain View-based Excelsior, who made it to the semi-finals of the Manning Cup last season, will have it a bit more difficult after losing at least 70 per cent of the starting team.

But being a good footballing school rich in tradition, having won the first of their seven titles in 1953 and with an experienced coach, Excelsior will once again be there fighting for group honours.

However, nothing can be taken for granted in football and the likes of Cumberland High, Mona High and Vauxhall High, won’t be sitting ducks in this five-team group.

Cumberland, who were drawn in the same group as Excelsior last year, where they finished fourth with 10 points, could be the biggest threat to both Charlie Smith and Excelsior.

Vauxhall finished second from bottom in Group D involving Charlie Smith last year with just six points and they will have to show tremendous improvement if they are to trouble the favoured teams.

Mona High will be making a return to competition after missing the 2013 season, having had an extremely poor 2012 campaign where they went winless and pointless. Not much is known of this year’s team and nothing much is expected of them either.

So at the end of the group games on October 6, Charlie Smith and Excelsior High should march comfortably into the second round.