4 weeks ago
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JAMAICA COLLEGE (JC) kept their unbeaten run intact, solidifying their lead atop Group F in the ISSA Manning Cup, following a 3-1 victory over Excelsior at the Courtney Walsh Oval yesterday.
JC opened the scoring through Anwan Gordon in the 39th minute, before what turned out to be Excelsior’s consolation which came in the 50th through Kimarly Scott. Javaun Mills put JC back in front in the 58th before Amarlie King’s timed-added strike made the result clear.
JC, who started the encounter in search of goals, came close in the second minute as Nashardo Gibbs’ left-footed strike scared the Excelsior hopefuls, going inches wide of the mark.
In the 10th minute, JC’s Giovanni Taylor was gifted a goalscoring opportunity but failed to capitalise, his effort, similar to Gibbs’, going just wide.
Taylor was again in the thick of things, denied this time around by Excelsior’s custodian Jamari Gordon in the 31st minute.
The deadlock was eventually broken in the 39th minute as Gordon managed to scramble his chance over the goal line.
Spirited half-time team talk
A spirited half-time team talk sparked Excelsior into action, the home team equalising through Scott, who showed finesse and composure.
As the home supporters raised the decibel levels, the 31-time champions responded almost immediately through Mills, who produced a cracking right-footed shot to put JC back in front.
The game was put to bed in added time, King controlling before placing his effort to ensure all three points went back to Hope Road.
Raymond Watson, assistant coach at JC, said, while Excelsior were a quality team, credit, should be given to his boys for the way they performed.
“We expected that we would have won the game. 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 had threat going forward but I knew that we could deal with it. Excelsior is a quality team and, if we’re going to measure ourselves against them, then we should give ourselves good marks. It was a game plan based on the first game, as they started like a house on fire, so we just tempered the game a little and then took them on the counter-attack,” Watson explained.
Keon Broderick, head coach of Excelsior, said that his team could have done better in the attacking third.
“Based on the quality, we knew we could have won this game, but credit must be given to Jamaica College, as they executed in front of goal. Credit also should go to my boys, as they fought hard but, in the attacking transition, I believe we could have done better,” he said.
YESTERDAY’S RESULTS
Jose Marti 0-1 KC
Camperdown 0-2 STATHS
Kingston Tech 2-10 Calabar
Excelsior 1-3 JC
English (US) ·