ST George’s College head coach Neville ‘Bertis’ Bell poured mountains of praise on his opponents, Godfrey Stewart High, after their feature game of the ISSA/LIME Super Cup triple-header at the National Stadium on Saturday.

Godfrey Stewart, showing some pace and plenty of physical power, bothered the St George’s football team, particularly in the first half before succumbing to a 1-5 defeat.

Striker Amoy Brown hit a treble for St George’s in minutes seven, 53 and 75. The outstanding attacker Shevon Stewart struck in the 35th minute, while Akeem Prawl’s delicate right-footed effort came in the 71st.

Neville Morgan temporarily brought Godfrey Stewart level in the 15th minute.

Despite the wide margin of victory, Bell said the Westmoreland-based school is the best team he has faced this campaign.

“I like this Godfrey Stewart team, I thought they really played well,” Bell told the Jamaica Observer.

“I said at half-time that I think this is the best team we played against. But, when we got the lead [at 2-1], I think they just backed off a bit and gave us some room. I told my players, that we had to close down couple of their top players because they had some really good players in the middle of the park. That’s what worked for us more than anything else.”

Carl Palmer, the coach of Godfrey Stewart, said things went “haywire” after his team entered the second half trailing only by the odd goal.

“We started to lose concentration towards the middle of the game. I think we had a reasonable first half and we created a few chances. I think if we went ahead with those chances it would have been a different game.

“The second half we came out strong also and were in control for the first 10 to 15 minutes. Then we gave up a goal and it went haywire from there. We got disorganised in the middle of the field and also at the back. There were 10-minute spells and we created opportunities, even in the last 10 minutes or so we created chances,” said Palmer.

In easily the most pulsating game at the Stadium in recent times, the speedy Brown gave the former Manning Cup champions the lead when his deflected right-footer went into the goal in the seventh minute.

Eight minutes later, Morgan scrambled home the equaliser for Godfrey Stewart.

A mere 10 minutes before the first-half interval, Stewart put St George’s back into the lead with a nifty dribble inside the 18-yard box and an expert finish.

After the break, Stewart dribbled by the advancing Godfrey Stewart goalkeeper and, recognising the angle was too tight, laid a pass to Brown, who blasted it into the roof of the goal.

With the game winding down, Prawl’s deft chip was good enough to hand his team a fourth goal.

Brown then hit his third, and his team’s fifth of the night, to flatten the battling Godfrey Stewart side.

Though the winner of the contest was obvious, Godfrey Stewart kept fighting tooth and nail and created a few half-chances, but were found guilty of being shy in front of goal.

“We have to improve in every area. In the second half, late in the game… we looked a little sloppy at times,” Bell said, with regard to his team’s lapses in the closing stages of the encounter.

ISSA/LIME Super Cup results on Saturday

Venue — Catherine Hall

Dinthill Technical 0, Camperdown 3

St James 1, Wolmer’s Boys 3

Cornwall College 1, Jamaica College 2

Venue — Sabina Park

Holy Trinity 1, Clarendon College 1 (4-2 penalties)

Charlie Smith 1, Garvey Maceo 3

Venue — National Stadium

Hydel 1, Old Harbour 0

St Elizabeth Technical 5, Denham Town 0

St George’s College 5, Godfrey Stewart 1