Manning Cup teams dominate LIME Super Cup with six wins in eight games
MANNING Cup teams dominated the LIME Super Cup Knockout Competition following yesterday’s first round of action at three venues across the country. The urban teams won six of the eight matches, with only daCosta Cup champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and Garvey Maceo scoring victories against Denham Town High and Charlie Smith High, respectively.
The winning urban area teams were Jamaica College, St George’s College, Holy Trinity, Wolmer’s Boys, Camperdown High, and Hydel High.
Holy Trinity High and Garvey Maceo High advanced to the quarterfinal round after recording victories over Clarendon College and Charlie Smith High, respectively, at Sabina Park yesterday.
Holy Trinity got by Clarendon College 3-2 on penalties after playing out a 1-1 draw in regular and extra time in the opening game, while Garvey Maceo came away with a 3-1 win over Charlie Smith High in the feature game of the double-header.
A brace by Ryan Scott in the 18th and 38th minutes, plus substitute Gavin Roberts’ 78th minute strike propelled the Clarendon-based outfit to victory. Chevon Crooks, in the 42nd minute, got the consolation for Charlie Smith in the mouth-watering encounter that lived up to expectation, as football returned to the home of international cricket under the recently installed lights. Charlie Smith, in their usual attacking style, enjoyed most of the ball possession and seemed the more dominant outfit.
However, as it has been in their last three fixtures, they lacked the composure in front of goal and failed to put away their chances on numerous occasions. Garvey Maceo, on the other hand, were composed in attack and a lack of communication in the Charlie Smith defence allowed them three goal-scoring opportunities which they accepted.
Winning coach Alexander Morgan lauded his team for a spirited performance. “We wanted this one, we have a lot of players who have not fully recovered from symptoms of the CHIKV, but they came out here and they fought. They played with a lot of pride…a lot of spirit, and I have to take my hat off to them,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Meanwhile, Jerome Waite, coach of Charlie Smith, was left ruing his team’s missed chances. “Congratulations to Garvey Maceo, I think they wanted it more today (yesterday). We created numerous chances and failed to score, and it came back and haunt us. But all credit to our opponents, they did extremely well,” he said.
The curtain-raiser between Holy Trinity and Clarendon College was a closely contested encounter and, though not as exciting, did just enough to whet the appetite of the large crowd.
A 27th-minute strike by Seigel Knight gave Clarendon College the lead, but that was cancelled out in the 72nd minute when Shavar Smith slotted home from a rebound to send the game into extra time.
Holy Trinity dominated both halves of the extra time period but failed to capitalise on their chances after penetrating their opponents defence on numerous occasions. In the end, it was goalkeeper Antonio Millington who held his own to pull off three stunning saves to give Holy Trinity the win.