Last year’s beaten finalists St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) and Kingston College secured an advantage over Kingston Technical and Campion College, as they registered contrasting victories in their respective first leg second round ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup fixtures at Jamaica College on Saturday.

STATHS with a clinical second half display, blanked Kingston Technical 4-0, courtesy of a brace from Richard Livingston (58th and 81st), with Leon Brown (58th) and Alexavier Gooden (88th), getting the others.

Kingston College had things much more difficult and had to come from behind to edge Campion College 3-2 in the feature contest of the double-header.

Tyler Falconer (21st) and Djas Less (25th) gave Campion a handy lead, but Demario Dailey (59th), O’Neil Bryan (83rd) and Robert Seow (90+3), responded for Kingston College.

After playing out a goalless first half in the curtain raiser, STATHS came to life on the resumption and found the go-ahead goal 13 minutes in when Livingston converted from the 12-yard spot, after Brown was felled by goalkeeper Jahiem Orr.

The Bumper Hall-based school continued to press and doubled the lead through Brown, who was on hand to slam home a loose ball from close range, his 14^th goal of the season.

With Kingston Technical offering very little resistance, particularly in the latter stages, scoring got easier for STATHS and Livingston helped himself to another, as he skipped a defender and drove home a right-footed effort from just inside the 18-yard box.

Gooden then capped the win with a fine header that gave Orr no chance at a save.

The second contest between Campion College and Kingston College, was expected to be more competitive and lived up to its billing.

Campion took the lead against the run of play when a poor clearance by goalkeeper Malique Williams, went straight to Falconer, who made no mistakes.

Another poor attempt by Williams to gather the ball, allowed Less to tap the ball in at the far post, almost hurting himself in the process when he slammed into the upright.

Though down, Kingston College was not out, and they again found some momentum in the latter stages of the first half, and they maintained it after the break.

The North Street-based team made it count a minute to the hour mark through Dailey, who finished off an Otaivian Halloway pass with aplomb.

With that goal literally knocking the wind from Campion College’s sails, Kingston College went for broke, and Bryan put them back on level terms with a tidy finish from deep inside the 18-yard box.

Seow completed the comeback befitting of their motto “the brave may fall, but never yield,” with an easy tap in at the far post.

Winning coach Vassell Reynolds praised his team for the win.

“It was a tough one, we gave up two soft goals but it’s a part of the game. We asked the guys at half-time to dig in and in the end, fitness spoke, and we got three goals. It is a young and experience team, but we have asked them from the start of the season to always fight in a way that is of a Kingston College spirit, and they did that, so I am very proud of them,” Reynolds said in a post-game interview.

His counterpart Ashton Blankson also lauded his team but felt they were undone by a lack of fitness.

“I thought they got a little tired and the heads dropped, but we fought all the way to the end. We want to go back to playing our game which is the passing game, and we will see what happens (in the second leg) on Wednesday,” Blankson noted.

Saturday’s results

St Catherine 2, Wolmer’s Boys 0

Excelsior 0, Hydel 0

Jamaica College 3, Eltham 0

Mona 3, Jonathan Grant 0

Kingston College 3, Campion College 2

STATHS 4, Kingston Technical 0

St George’s College 2, St Jago 0

Haile Selassie 0, Tivoli High 0

Defending champions Jamaica College closed the gap between themselves and Group B leaders Tivoli High to one point thanks to a 7-0 win over Spanish Town High in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup on Thursday.

Kingston Technical made things even more interesting in the group with a 3-1 win over the leaders to also move within a point of top spot, trailing JC by 12 on goal difference.

The day’s other group game saw Cumberland beat Meadowbrook 4-0 for their first win of the season.

Elsewhere, Jonathan Grant hammered Greater Portmore 8-0 to move to second in Group C with 17 points, two points behind leaders Haile Selassie and two ahead of third placed Eltham.

Reigning champions Jamaica College had their progress halted by bad weather conditions, as they were well on their way to a second-consecutive victory in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup on Friday.

Giovanni Taylor’s hat-trick had the “Dark Blues” 3-0 up against Cumberland High when the game was called off after 25 minutes due to rain and lightning. The fixture will be competed on a date to be decided.

That postponement resulted in Kingston Technical provisionally assuming pole position in Group B on six points, following their 4-0 beating of Meadowbrook High, who are current fifth on a point.

Meanwhile, third-placed Spanish Town High (two points) and fourth-placed Tivoli High (one point), played out a 2-2 stalemate in the other group b contest.

Despite the slight setback where their schedule is concerned, Jamaica College’s assistant coach Raymond “Stampie” Watson, pointed out that they remain on course to achieving their objective.  

“We are getting there. So far, we are looking positive, and the players are enjoying themselves, but this is the first round, and we are looking to be in it at the backend of the season where title contention is concerned so we continue to put in the work,” Watson told Sportsmax.tv.

Elsewhere in Group E, St Catherine High made it two-in-two with a 10-0 blanking of St Mary’s College, while last year’s semi-finalist Mona High, also secured a second win on the trot, with a 5-0 whipping of Innswood High.

Fourth-placed Norman Manley got their first points on the board, as they clipped Holy Trinity High 1-0.

Friday's results

Group B

Jamaica College 3, Cumberland 0 (Game called off due to inclement weather)

Tivoli High 2, Spanish Town 2

Kingston Technical 4, Meadowbrook 0

Group E

St Catherine 10, St Mary’s College 0

Mona High 5, Innswood High 0

Holy Trinity 0, Norman Manley 1

Saturday’s games

Group A

Penwood High vs Charlie Smith @ Maverley Football Field

Hydel High vs Camperdown @ Royal Lakes

Kingston College vs Calabar @ Stadium East

Group D

Clan Carthy vs STATHS @ Alpha Academy

Cedar Grove Academy vs Bridgeport @ Cedar Grove Academy

Excelsior High vs Tarrant @ Excelsior

Group F

Ardenne High vs Waterford @ Ardenne

Campion College vs St George’s College @ Campion College

Pembroke Hall vs Jose Marti @ Pembroke Hall

Group G

Donald Quarrie vs Ascot High @ Harbour View Mini Stadium

St Jago vs Wolmer’s Boys @ St Jago

Vauxhall High vs Papine High @ Vauxhall High

*All games are scheduled for 3:30pm.

Mona High has been removed from the final of the ISSA Walker Cup after being found guilty of using ineligible players.

Mona was expected to face defending champions St Catherine in the final of the competition, on Saturday, after securing their spot last week with a resounding 5-0 win over Kingston Technical.

However, following a decision handed down by ISSA on Tuesday, it is Kingston Technical who will now replace Mona in the final.  The issue stems from the school’s use of two ineligible players during the semifinal of the Walker Cup.

During the Manning Cup quarterfinal against St Andrew Technical, two Mona players, Ronaldo Jones, and Carlton Brown received red cards.  While Jones received a straight red card, Brown got two yellow cards.  Neither should have been eligible for the Walker Cup semifinals but were still used in the fixture.

"If a player receives a “red card” he automatically misses the next scheduled match in the competition in which he is eligible,” the release issue by ISSA stated.

Mona is coached by Phoenix All-Star Football Academy manager Craig Butler.