Martin’s brace sees KC into Manning final against St Catherine

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December 04, 2024

Photo

Kimani Reece (left) of Kingston College and D’sean Henry of Hydel High battle for the ball during yesterday’s Manning Cup semi-final at the National Stadium. Kingston College won 2-0.

Kingston College (KC) booked their spot in the final of the 2024 ISSA Manning Cup competition after turning back a spirited Hydel High 2-0 through a brace from Matrim Martin in their semifinal encounter yesterday at the National Stadium.

The famed purples are making their return to the urban schoolboy football final for the first time since the 2021 season.

They will face off against St Catherine High for the Manning Cup title who got the better of Jamaica College (JC) 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in regulation time. Captain Romaine Walter fired St Catherine in front from the penalty spot after 12 minutes. But Nashordo Gibbs restored parity four minutes before half time.

KC's head coach, Vassell Reynolds, was pleased with the result in the second match but had his reservations after a scrappy performance from his team on the day.

"I guess you can't say you're disappointed with the performance at all, any coach would have wanted today as it was the victory and it takes us in the final," he stated.

"But I have to admit I am a little bit disappointed in the way we managed the ball in the first half. I guess we were banking on the fact, in the last three games, we were very good in keeping the ball and hoped that the boys would have taken that into the game today but maybe there were some jitters."

Both teams struggled to assert their influence on the game as the match played out in a fierce end-to-end midfield battle throughout the proceedings.

The team in purple would blast ahead early in the contest with a low-driven effort from Martin in the 15th minute.

The Guyanese youth international latched on to the poor clearance from just outside the box and fired his team into the lead.

KC would carve out multiple half-chances in the first half to extend their lead but continually failed to find that lethal final touch.

The second half played out in the same vein as the first with both teams struggling to capitalise on meaningful chances they created on the night.

Martin would confirm the win at the death, however, as in the ninth minute, he skilfully used his turn of pace to dismiss his marker before finishing low across the face of goal.

Hydel head coach Devon Anderson said the result was a bitter pill to swallow as he felt his players had to quality to go all the way.

"I take every loss tough as a coach because I am a hard taskmaster and I love winning," he explained after the match.

"It's just a few mistakes and a few errors that cost us the game. If we had made better decisions in the final third then maybe this game would have been different. Nevertheless, credit to KC, they came out here and did what they were supposed to do and now they are in the final."

The Manning Cup final will be played on Friday at the National Stadium. The fixture will be the feature game of a double header with Mona and Excelsior to open the afternoon as they contest the ISSA Walker Cup final.