Another big win for St George’s

St George's College continued their strong start to the Manning Cup season, beating Norman Manley High 7-0 in their Group G match at Winchester Park yesterday.

With their impressive start many fans are now convinced that St George's are ready to reclaim the trophy they last won in 2012 but assistant coach Marcel Gayle said it's too early to start talking about winning the title.

"It is early season. We are taking it a game at a time. It's everybody's ambition (to win the cup) but we are just taking it one game at a time," he insisted. "But we are getting better in some areas that we were lacking in and we have improved in those areas. In front of goal, however, we cannot ask for more.

"Joel Ffrench came on and added his contribution, and that was what we were missing last year, players to come off the bench and deliver for us. So it's a good look going forward."

Nickoy Davidson opened the scoring after two minutes before Akeem Plummer made it 2-0 after 22 minutes. Davidson added his second and St George's third from the penalty spot three minutes later and Ernando Henry scored in the 32nd minute and Daniel Garwood in the 41st to put the Georgians 5-0 up at the break.

The home team totally dominated the second half and had numerous opportunities but only added two more goals through Henry's 58th minute strike and Divine Dodd's goal three minutes from time.

Gayle noted that their focus for the second half was to be patient and exploit the spaces.

"Second half we were a bit lacklustre in front of goal but after scoring seven goals, I don't think there is much more you could ask of the team.

"But the objective was to keep possession and let the goals come. We still got two more goals but that wasn't our main objective. The objective was to pass the ball around and ensure that we finished strong," he said.

It was Norman Manley's second defeat in as many games and coach Jahmoy Green noted that apart from having a very young team, they took too long to get going.

"It wasn't a bad performance but they took too long to come into their own. Ten minutes inside the second half they came into their own and created a couple chances but didn't make use of them.

"The players are young and trying to step up to the Manning Cup so we are trying to keep them together for next year. That is our aim," he stated.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com

Yesterday's results

St George's 7-0 Norman Manley

Mona 8-1 Tarrant

Jonathan Grant 2-0 Waterford

Campion 4-0 Meadowbrook

Kingston College 2-0 Jose Marti

Holy Trinity 2-1 Papine