As expected, howling title favourites Kingston College (KC) grabbed the ascendancy heading into the second leg of their Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/FLOW Manning Cup second-round knockout fixture against Tivoli Gardens High, but defending champions Jamaica College (JC) and Charlie Smith will have all to play for in their second leg tie come Wednesday.

The number-three seeded KC came away 4-1 winners over number-14 ranked Tivoli Gardens, while number-five ranked JC had to come from behind in a 2-2 stalemate against number-12 seed Charlie Smith in the feature contest of the first-leg double-header at Stadium East field yesterday.

The prolific Tyrick Reid (25th) and Roderick Delmar (43rd) placed Charlie Smith in a comfortable position, but Shaniel Thomas (47th) and Norman Campbell (65th) kept the champions’ hopes alive for the return game.

JC’s Head Coach Miguel Coley noted that his team’s fightback was always on the cards, while expressing confidence that a better showing will come in the next leg.

“It was expected, we are the defending champions; we are expected to do well, and we were expected to come back, so it is no surprise to me and I am happy that we were able to get back two goals.

“I think we could have been a bit more calm under what I think wasn’t any pressure; we made too many unforced errors, but as I said I am happy that we came back and got those two goals,” Coley told journalists in a post-match interview.

“I am confident, but the most important thing is that the players finished without any injuries, but it is just for me to get them mentally ready because that is the aspect, I think; technically we are not bad, but mentally we have work to do,” he added.

His counterpart, Jerome Waite, praised his team’s performance despite a poor second half showing, which allowed JC back into the contest.

“The team started pretty much slow in the second half, but we still have to give these youngsters credit because no one expected a Charlie Smith to lead JC by two goals to nil and these (players) are not title contenders, but we will be competitive.

“It (giving away two goals) is a part of the game and it is a learning process and we are hoping that they can learn from it going into the next leg, so hopefully it will be a different ball game then, but this (Charlie Smith) team has a lot to do,” he assessed.

Like it was in the 2014 final, Charlie Smith entering the contest against a fairly good JC team were always considered the underdog, but their spirited display in the opening 45 minutes proved otherwise.

The ‘Junglists’ were dominant in the early exchanges, and not even a heavy burst of showers was enough to disrupt their flow as they pegged back the many-time champions with their direct passes.

They eventually broke the deadlock five minutes to the half-hour mark when Reid picked up a pass in the middle of the park and glided his way to the edge of the 18-yard box, where he fired past a diving Derland Hyatt in goal for JC.

The ‘Dark Blues’ were not about to roll over and play dead and they responded with a few telling blows of their own through Campbell, Tevin Rochester and the ever-composed Tyreek Magee, but they were denied by tidy glovework from Charlie Smith’s custodian Tuishane Edwards.

But the Old Hope Road-based team found themselves further behind when Delmar slotted home a weak left-footed shot from a counter attack to put Charlie Smith 2-0 up at the interval.

However, the ‘Dark Blues’ kicked the gate open on the resumption courtesy of Thomas, who capitalised on a goalkeeping error by Edwards and headed home two minutes in.

It was all JC thereafter, as Charlie Smith had no response in attack and their defensive line was left to the mercy of the many-time champions. The equaliser inevitably came after a long pass breached the tiring defence for Campbell to pick up and fire past a hapless Edwards.

JC could have easily stuck their nose in front based on their dominance in possession but Charlie Smith were resolute in defence and held on with the away goal in their favour.

Earlier in the curtain-raiser, KC, through goals from Renato Campbell (fourth), a 13th-minute penalty by Ronaldo Robinson, and Rashawn Mackinson, who fired home from close range in the 72nd, made light work of Tivoli Gardens High in pelting afternoon sunshine.

The other came via an own-goal after Sakema Blake turned in an intended cross by substitute Trayvone Reid in the 63rd minute. Captain David Rogers with a well-taken free kick, which took a wicked deflection in the 26th minute, pulled one back for the West Kingston team.

Meanwhile, in preliminary round action, St George’s College confirmed Group D honours with a 2-0 win over Denham Town, which will now seed them at number six in the second round where they are set to face number-11 seed St Jago. Runners-up St Catherine are seeded at number 13, where they will go up against number-four seed Hydel High.

Haile Selassie drew one step closer to the second round after scoring a similar 2-0 win over Pembroke Hall in the other preliminary-round fixture.