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JC in full control of Manning Cup Zone F
October 10, 2024
Raymond Watson, the assistant coach of Jamaica College (JC), shared that while he was aware of the threat Excelsior High posed prior to kick-off, he was very confident that his team would leave their Zone F top-of-the-table Manning Cup clash yesterday with all three points.
"I thought that once we made good decisions after we got by their defenders then we should be able to capitalise. I knew that they were a threat going forward but I knew that we could deal with it. Excelsior are a quality team and if we're going to measure ourselves against them then we should give ourselves good marks. Our game plan was based on the first game we played against them as they started like a house on fire so we just tempered our game a bit and then went on the counter attack," Watson explained.
JC moved to 19 points following their 3-1 win. Excelsior are in second on 13. Both schools are well ahead of their rivals and should advance easily to the second round.
The Old Hope Road-based JC were the early aggressors and came close in the second minute as Nashardo Gibbs' left-footed strike went inches wide of the mark. In the 10th minute, teammate Giovanni Taylor was gifted a goal-scoring opportunity but failed to capitalise as his effort, like Gibbs' earlier shot, went just wide of the goal. Taylor was again called into action in the 31st minute but was denied this time around by Excelsior's custodian Jamari Gordon. The deadlock was eventually broken in the 39th minute as Antwan Gordon managed to scramble his chance into his opponents' goal.
A spirited halftime team talk sparked home team Excelsior into action as they equalised in the 50th minute through Kimarly Scott who showed finesse and composure in converting his chance.
As the home supporters cheered on their team, 31-time champions JC responded almost immediately through Javaun Mills with a cracking right-footed shot which proved to be too hot to handle for Gordon. The game was put to bed in added time as Amarlie King controlled, settled and placed his effort in the Excelsior goal to ensure that his team collected three points on offer.
Keon Broderick, head coach of Excelsior, said that based on the quality within his team he felt they could have earned a win over JC.
"Based on the quality we have, we knew we could have won this game but credit must be given to JC as they executed in front of goal. Credit must also go to my boys as they fought hard but I believe we could have done better in attack," he stated.
Yesterday's results
Jose Marti 0-1 KC
Penwood 1-3 Campion
Camperdown 0-2 STATHS
Kingston Tech 2 -10 Calabar
Vauxhall 3-2 Haile Selassie
Edith Dalton James 0-9 Wolmer's
Excelsior 1-3 JC
