KC spank STGC 4-1 in one-sided North Street battle
Kingston College (KC) followed up their 3-0 win over St. George’s College (STGC) in their last meeting in the preliminary round of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup competition with a comprehensive 4-1 win to start the quarterfinal round at the Stadium East Field on Saturday.
A brace from Nashordo Gibbs and one each from Teyshawn Mattis and Dujuan Richards put KC up 4-0 with less than an hour played, before Adrian Reid Jr. pulled one back for STGC five minutes from time.
The third installment of the North Street derby this campaign was expected to be a close and exciting affair after the two schools split the preliminary matches one apiece, but it was all KC from the opening whistle with Richards going close twice in the first 10 minutes.
First a chip shot from Richards went just wide of the frame before he rose high to head the ball just over crossbar.
But the KC pressure would bear fruit when Gibbs opened the scoring in the 14th minute. The striker ran onto a beautiful through pass from Ashanie Kennedy and took the ball in his stride with the left foot before powering home past D’Jone Davis with his right.
The KC crowd was still cheering when Gibbs doubled the KC advantage, taking three attempts to force the ball beyond Davis who did his best to deny his opponent.
St. George’s College found the going tough and were limited to a few long-range efforts that Tajarie Lee was able to handle quite easily as KC went into the break leading 2-0.
KC quickly put the game beyond doubt after the restart when Mattis powered home to make it 3-0 in the 48th minute.
Mattis, who had come on early in the first half to replace the injured Jaheem Johnson, was the recipient of a lobbed pass from Gibbs who turned provider. After bringing the ball under control, he shrugged off the challenge of a defender before thundering past Davis from 10 yards.
Shortly after, Richards should have added his name to the score sheet but somehow managed to head wide of the goal. Mattis was also guilty of missing from close range as KC continued to pile on the pressure on their North Street opponents.
But Richards has been irrepressible all season and got his name on the score sheet with a lovely individual effort.
Using the classic stepover move, he glided past one defender to get inside the box, shaped to shoot before waltzing past a next defender and then squeezed the ball between the goalkeeper’s legs from an acute angle to make it 4-0 in the 57th minute.
It was the best goal of the afternoon and the 20th of the season from the most talked about player in the Manning Cup.
KC were denied a clean sheet when Adrian Reid bagged the STGC consolation from the penalty spot in the 85th minute.
The two teams will be back in action on Wednesday when KC take on Charlie Smith High and STGC battle Mona High at the same venue.