Related items

• KC, C'Bar blank Camperdown, Charlie Smith in Group A double-header

  Former champions Kingston College and Calabar continued their upward trend in Group A of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup, as both registered 2-0 and 3-0 victories over Camperdown and Charlie Smith respectively at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex on Wednesday.

  Both Kingston College and Calabar, who lost their opening contests, have rebounded nicely with these being their second win on the trot in a competitive group that is expected to go down to the wire for the top two positions.

  In the opening contest, Alex Hislop (fourth) and Kelvin Brown (65^th) got the job done for Kingston College over Camperdown, while Javel Watson (20^th), Fitzroy McLeod (79^th) and Kimani Thompson (90+2), were on target for Calabar in the feature encounter.

  With the win, both Calabar and Kingston College moved to six points, along with leader Hydel, who hammered Penwood 10-0 in their fixture. Charlie Smith remains in fourth on three points, with Camperdown and Penwood yet to put a point on the board.

  After Hislop fired Kingston College in front, the tempo of the young North Street-based team dropped significantly but picked up when the game resumed from a short break due to severe weather conditions.

  Kingston College should have added a second from the penalty spot, but Dejuan Green tried to be too fancy and hit the 12-yard kick wide, as the score remained 1-0 at the break.

  The purples continued their dominant show on the resumption and though Camperdown tried to play their game, the failed to really trouble Dominic Robinson in goal for Kingston College.

  Vassell Reynolds’s side eventually added to their tally when Brown waltzed his way around three defenders before finishing a right-footer with aplomb to seal the win.

  Though not impressed, Reynolds welcomed the improved second half display and, by extension, the win.

  “I think we rose to the occasion; it is still a work in progress, but the youngsters are learning very quickly. I am pretty satisfied with how they recovered from the first half. I thought the break helped us really, we were giving away possession of the ball and we lacked the composure in the first half, but they came out and equipped themselves in the second half,” Reynolds said in his post-game assessment.

  His counterpart Lebert Halliman cited indiscipline for his team’s defeat, their second of the season. They also have against Hydel in which they are down 0-5 to be completed.

  “Indiscipline is why I took off my captain because he wasn’t playing his role. But overall, I think the team did well, it’s a young team and a long season, so it’s a learning process for them,” Halliman said.

  The feature contest was much more eventful, as both Charlie Smith and Calabar were evenly matched for the most parts.

  Both displayed individual flair and some colorful plays in patches, but it was Calabar that proved the most clinical in the end.

  The Andrew Price-conditioned Calabar opened the scoring in the 20^th minute when an unmarked Watson, easily headed home at close range from a Jaheim Rankine cross.

  They almost doubled the lead 12 minutes later, as Sheridan Wilson’s stinging right-footed shot from a distance had Deonte Gary, in goal for Charlie Smith beaten, but the effort came back off the crossbar.

  With no changes to the scoreline at the break, Charlie Smith showed more purpose on the resumption in their hunt for the equalizer. However, they not only found themselves with a numerical disadvantage when they lost Gary to straight red in the 61^st minute for stomping on an opponent, but they also found themselves with a two-goal deficit to make up.

  This, as Anthony McDonald’s weighted free kick found McLeod, who made no mistakes.

  And if that wasn’t bad enough, Thompson rubbed salt on an already wounded Charlie Smith with an easy close range finish in time added.

  Wednesday’s results

  Zone A

  Kingston College 2, Camperdown 0

  Charlie Smith 0, Calabar 3

  Penwood 0, Hydel High 10

  Zone B

  Meadowbrook 3, Cumberland 2

  Jamaica College 3, Spanish Town 0

  Zone D

  Excelsior 7, Cedar Grove 1

  Bridgeport 2, Clan Carthy 1

  Zone E

  St Catherine 7, Edith Dalton James 0

  Innswood 2, Holy Trinity 0

  Mona 9, St Mary’s College 1

   

• Neil Warnock proud of his work as he departs Huddersfield after draw with Stoke

  Departing Huddersfield boss Neil Warnock feels he has restored the pride back into the West Yorkshire club as his reign ended with a 2-2 draw against Stoke.

  Matty Pearson put the Terriers ahead but Daniel Johnson quickly responded with Stoke’s first away goal of this Championship campaign.

  Ben Wilmot’s looping header put the visitors ahead before Jack Rudoni equalised to earn Warnock his final point.

  Four months after remarkably keeping the club in the second tier, Warnock was proud of the way his players fought back in his final game in charge.

  He said: “What we’ve done in the last six months has put the pride back into Huddersfield.

  “The fans are glad they are supporting the Terriers and I feel really proud. It has been hard work this six months.

  “I don’t think anybody thought we could do what we did last year, it was an absolute miracle. Yes, it’s come early, I did not expect to leave until Christmas or round about then. But I will look on from afar with great affection – I want them to do well.

  “I said to the lads at the end of the game that there is no reason why you don’t go and push on now and look at going up rather than looking behind you.”

  The 74-year-old is eager to continue his journey in management following his recent post.

  He added: “I’ve just loved every minute on the training ground.

  “It’s just got me going again and made me realise that my strength, you can’t get in a book. My strength is what I do with people and you look at my promotions, I’ve never had the best teams but eight great dressing rooms and every one of those players will remember my time here.”

  Stoke boss Alex Neil felt his side missed a great opportunity to pick up their first away win of the season and thinks his side’s performance warranted more than a point.

  He said: “It’s certainly two points dropped from our perspective.

  “You can’t dominate a game as much as we dominated tonight and defend as poorly as we did for both goals and that’s ultimately cost us the points.

  “I thought some of our play was as good as we’ve played since I’ve been here at times, I thought we created good chances and scored two goals.

  “I don’t feel encouraged right now. It is probably the sorest one this season because of how well we played. You understand in the Championship when you play well you need to make it count – and I thought we played well tonight.”

• ‘Unbelievable’ defending at Norwich leaves Leicester boss Enzo Maresca delighted

  Leicester manager Enzo Maresca was impressed with the way his side coped with a stern challenge as they edged to a 2-0 win at Norwich to maintain their excellent start to the Championship season.

  Maresca’s team have now won six of their seven league games to lie second in the embryonic table but they were made to work hard for their success by a home side who had won all their games at Carrow Road before this one.

  Kelechi Iheanacho and Kasey McAteer struck for the Foxes.

  “I am very pleased with our performance because of the opponents we were up against,” he said.

  “I have watched all their games and they usually score goals – 15 I think – so I am very pleased to come away with a win and a clean sheet.

  “We had to work very hard for the points – I said to the lads afterwards that you can work on the way you play, the way you defend but you also have to have the desire out there on the pitch.

  “The way the team defended was unbelievable, clearing the ball from corners and second and third phase play and that made all the difference tonight.”

  Maresca made five changes to the side that won at Southampton last time out, with Jamie Vardy and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall among the players left on the bench, and he was delighted with the way the new-look line-up coped.

  He said: “It’s a 46-game season and you can’t just rely on a small group of players. You need at least 20 and I want to get them all involved. You can’t just play in every game.

  “It was tough because they went man for man, which meant our keeper (Mads Hermansen) saw a lot of the ball and he played an important role for us when we played out, and he also made a great save – I think he is the complete keeper.”

  A tight match was settled by late goals in either half, with Leicester getting their noses in front in the 44th minute through Iheanacho’s penalty.

  Referee Graham Scott pointed to the spot when Stephy Mavididi went down under a challenge from Christian Fassnacht and Iheanacho did the rest, despite a valiant effort from keeper Angus Gunn.

  The Foxes had to withstand plenty of pressure after that, with Hermansen making a terrific reaction save to keep out a close-range header from Shane Duffy and Kenny McLean hitting the underside of the crossbar with a well judged chip.

  But a well drilled defence stood firm and Leicester sealed the points in the 87th minute when Dewsbury-Hall squared for an unmarked McAteer to tap home.

  Norwich head coach David Wagner felt hard done by afterwards.

  “We are obviously disappointed to lose but I am fine with the performance – it was top class,” he said.

  “I am unhappy we twice gave the ball away in the lead-up to the penalty but apart from that I am very pleased with the way we played.

  “We were the better side in the second half and created three or four very good opportunities but unfortunately we were not clinical enough. The lads battled hard, never gave up and in the end were beaten by a quality side so we move on.

  “I think Leicester will finish top this season and the rest of the teams will be battling for the other positions. It’s tough to take but I have every faith in this group of players going forwards.”

  Striker Ashley Barnes limped off early in the second half and Wagner added: “It looks like knee ligaments and we will know more after a scan tomorrow. Hopefully it is not too serious but we have strength in depth now which is good.”