Clarendon blank Manchester 2-0 in daCosta Cup

Western Bureau:

Clarendon College took a step towards the semifinals of the ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup with a 2-0 win over Manchester High School in Mandeville yesterday.

Clarendon sit atop the four-team table, three points clear of their counterparts and Cornwall College who hammered McGrath 5-0 in the early kick-off at the same venue. Cornwall boast a goal difference of +2.

Clarendon took the early lead from a build-up play that ended with a Malachi Douglas header into the top corner of the goal. As their intensity dropped, Manchester came close to an equaliser around the 32nd minute when a lofted shot hit the upright and then on to the crossbar. The first half ended 1-0.

The second half saw Manchester matching Clarendon stride for stride in their performance but gave up a penalty that Jahiem Rose converted in the 76th minute to give his Chapelton Road school a two-goal cushion.

Manchester hit the crossbar a second time, this time two minutes after conceding their second. The hosts continued to push late in the game but couldn't find the breakthrough.

Clarendon head coach Lenworth Hyde praised his defenders, who he says won the game.

"Good overall performance, although we could have done better in terms of possession of the ball," he said. "Defensively we were good, we kept a clean sheet, which is what we need at this stage of the competition. Kudos to the defensive unit."

Hyde says Clarendon are in a good position but they have one game to go against McGrath and are not underestimating them.

Manchester head coach Vassell Reynolds says their slow start led to their loss.

"[It was a] tough one," he said. "I don't think we did too badly, especially in the second half. One of my main disappointments is that we took too long to settle down. We have been experiencing this for a while and we spoke about it. Today, we took even longer, after 20 minutes we were still sleeping. Clarendon College started well, as usual, and got the early goal that had us chasing the game.

"Overall, it wasn't bad, but the effort we gave today was not enough to topple this Clarendon College team. But we still have a lot to play for as mathematically it's still possible. We need to play well against Cornwall College on Saturday."

In other games, Frome beat St Thomas Technical 9-2, while Garvey Maceo and St Elizabeth Technical High School played to a 2-2 draw.