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• Calabar edge STATHS 1-0 to assume pole position in Zone D of Manning Cup; reigning champions Clarendon College among winners in dCup

  Calabar High School regained pole position in Zone D of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup following a 1-0 win over St Andrew Technical (STATHS) in a top-of-the-table clash at their Red Hills Road base on Saturday.

  Jaheim Rankine got the all-important strike in the 34th minute to extend their unbeaten run across five matches and push Calabar up to 16 points, same as STATHS, who were relegated to second with a slightly inferior goal difference. Haile Selassie (nine points), Camperdown (seven points), Vauxhall (six points) and Kingston Technical (zero point) complete the standings.

  Winning coach Andrew Price welcomed the character shown by his team on this occasion to overturn their first leg loss, as players occupied unfamiliar position.

  “The players are resilient; we played today without two of frontline central defenders so we had to patch up the team today and people played in positions that they don’t normally play in. But we have a system that we have been playing for the entire season and once people fit into the system, then the team will play well and they showed some depth and character today to get the three points against a very good STATHS team,” Price said.

  “I think we needed to be a bit more clinical in front of goal, but our strength is our defensive structure; we have only conceded two goals so far in the entire Manning Cup, which shows that we are very sound defensively, and we want to keep it that way. We are developing a football culture here at the school and we are going to continue to work diligently to ensure that we get some success along the line,” he added.

  STATHS started more purposefully and created a few half chances in the early exchanges as the teams battled heavy underfoot conditions due to afternoon showers.

  The Bumper Hall-based team should have broken the deadlock approaching the 20th minute mark but Ajetai Marshall muffed his effort from close range.

  Calabar got into their rhythm and went close to finding the lead at the half-hour mark, but Rankin’s left-footed shot from a distance was parried by Jaheem Williams in goal for STATHS.

  It is often said if you fail to succeed try again, and Rankine did just that to put Calabar in front as he released an even more delightful strike from about 30 yards out that had Williams beaten all ends up.

  Calabar went close to doubling their advantage in 41st, but Williams got down well to his right on this occasion to steer Jayden Perry’s left-footed shot from outside the 18-yard box wide.

  With the score unchanged at the break, STATHS made a push for the equaliser but failed to create any meaningful chances, and frustration inevitably set in, resulting in Alexavier Gooden being sent off for a second yellow in the 54th.

  The numerical advantage created a few openings for Calabar, the best of which came in the 61st Rankine, who rounded the goalkeeper but selfishly went for shot from a tight angle instead of floating a cross in for Perry.

  As the game approached its end, substitute Christiano Brown thought he stole a point for STATHS when she slid one through the goalkeeper’s legs, but the goal was belatedly flagged for an offside.

  That left Head coach Phillip Williams disgusted as he called out the officiating as the worst part of the encounter.

  “It is unfortunate that ISSA has invested so much and the schools have invested so much and the poor officiating just takes away from the game. I think that was the worst thing today; both teams played some decent football but the officiating needs to be better.

  “I think what we didn’t do today was score, we have a style of football that we play and we played that today even when we went down a man but referees need to be better in Jamaica, they are very poor,” a disappointed Williams said.

  Saturday’s Manning Cup Results

  Calabar 1, STATHS 0

  Dunoon Park 0, Eltham 0

  Ardenne High 0, Hydel High 8

  Ascot High 0, Jamaica College 5

  Excelsior High 15, Pembroke Hall 0

  Holy Trinity 0, St George’s College 5

  Camperdown 0, Vauxhall 0

  Saturday’s daCosta Cup Results

  Munro 0, Maggotty 0

  Manchester 1, Belair 0

  Glenmuir 4, Old Harbour 0

  Ocho Rios 8, Ferncourt 1

  Anchovy 1, Green Island 2

  McGrath 0, Dinthill 0

  Maldon High 4, St James 1

  Irwin High 1, Cornwall College 4

  Green Pond 5, Herbert Morrison 2

  Grange Hill 0, Godfrey Stewart 1

  Mannings 6, Little London 0

  Muschett 0, Cedric Titus 13

  Spot Valley 0, William Knibb 0

  Happy Grove 2, Morant Bay 0

  Tacius Golding 0, Charlemont 3

  Cross Keys 1, DeCarteret College 5

  Newell 0, Lacovia 1

  B.B Coke 1, STETHS 3

  Claude McKay 0, Clarendon College 7

  Central 2, Edwin Allen 1

  Knockalva 0, Frome Tech 8

  Cambridge 1, Rusea’s High 3

• Real Madrid 2-0 Villarreal: Valverde and Vinicius stunners down high-flying visitors

  Real Madrid went level on points with rivals Barcelona at the LaLiga summit following their 2-0 triumph over high-flying Villarreal on Saturday.

  The hosts opened the scoring in stunning fashion when Luka Modric's short corner was dummied by Jude Bellingham for Federico Valverde, with the Uruguayan taking aim from distance and finding the bottom corner with the aid of a deflection. 

  But Villarreal, who had won back-to-back league games heading into the encounter at the Bernabeu, responded almost immediately when Nicolas Pepe's header rattled the crossbar before Thierno Barry nodded over. 

  Los Blancos had further chances to increase their lead, but Antonio Rudiger sent an effort over the bar before Bellingham's long-range effort sailed wide of the post.

  But the victory was sealed 17 minutes from time with another sensational strike, this time Vinicius Junior tried his luck from long-range and curled a superb strike beyond the grasp of Diego Conde after being found by Valverde. 

  The result, however, was overshadowed by a nasty injury in second-half stoppage time to Dani Carvajal, with the Spaniard leaving the pitch on a stretcher and in tears after a collision with Yeremy Pino. 

  Data Debrief: Wonder goals save Los Blancos

  Madrid's two strikes against Villarreal both came from outside the box, as many as they had scored in their previous 39 goals in LaLiga. 

  But Carlo Ancelotti's side were far from their very best at the Bernabeu. They managed to muster an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.47 compared to Villarreal's 0.62, with only two of Los Blancos' 11 shots on target. 

  Valverde, however, impressed for Madrid, creating the joint-most chances alongside Modric (three), while also completing more accurate passes (77) than any other player on the pitch. 

• Inter 3-2 Torino: Thuram hat-trick keeps Serie A champions within reach of top spot

  Marcus Thuram plundered a hat-trick to propel Inter to a 3-2 victory over 10-man Torino in Saturday's Serie A clash.

  The victory places Inter second in the league standings with 14 points, two behind leaders Napoli.

  Visiting defender Guillermo Maripan was given a straight red card after 20 minutes for a late challenge on Thuram.

  Inter swiftly made their numerical advantage count, with Thuram heading in from close range five minutes after the sending-off.

  Thuram doubled Inter's lead in the 35th minute with another header from close range. However, Torino pulled one back a minute later, with Duvan Zapata taking advantage of a defensive error to finish from inside the box.

  Thuram completed his hat-trick on the hour mark, being in the right place to tap in a rebound after Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic had saved a header.

  Torino forward Nikola Vlasic converted a penalty four minutes from time after Hakan Calhanoglu had tripped Adam Masina in the area to tee up a grandstand finish.

  However, the visitors were unable to mount a final push to find an equaliser.

  Data Debrief: Three-goal Thuram does Torino damage

  Thuram scored his second hat-trick while playing in the top five European Leagues (in all competitions), after his previous one for Borussia Monchengladbach against Oberachern in the German DFB-Pokal in 2022.

  In doing so, he became only the third Inter player to score a hat-trick against Torino in Serie A, after Roberto Boninsegna in March 1974 and Edwin Ronald Firmani in December 1958.