Glenmuir High extended their perfect start to the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Wata daCosta Cup as they blanked neighbours Garvey Maceo 2-0 in a lopsided Zone I affair in May Pen, Clarendon, on Saturday.
Ricardo Binns’ third goal of the season in the 29th and Orel Miller’s seventh of the season in the 40th was enough to seal the three points, which kept Glenmuir atop the standings on maximum nine points.
The defeat, Garvey Maceo’s first of the season, saw them slip to third on six points as Foga Road (seven points) jumped to second after a 6-0 beating of Porus High.
Glenmuir’s Head coach Andrew Peart welcomed the win.
“I am pleased with the win and the maturity shown by the players. For most of them its three years so as they get older, you expect more of them and I thought they showed that. One of the key things for us was not to get the game stretched and I thought we did that well,” Peart said in a post-game interview.
“It is step by step where our title ambitions are concerned; for us, the main thing now is to get out of the group and then we go from there. Yes, we plan long term but we are working short term so its day by day for us right now,” he added.
It was expected to be a close contest between two of last season’s semi-finalists, but Glenmuir had other ideas and should have won by a wider margin.
The Champions Cup holders dominated proceedings from the start as they were enterprising in the attacking third and created numerous chances, though they struggled to apply the finishing touch.
It wasn’t until close to the half-hour mark that they inevitably broke the deadlock from a sustained attacking spell, when Binns headed into an empty net after a decent first touch kept the ball alive ahead of the advancing Garfield Tomlinson in goal for Garvey Maceo.
The lead was doubled 11 minutes later courtesy of Miller, who sidewined his way through four defenders before driving a firm left-footed effort past the hapless Tomlinson to make it 2-0 at the break.
Down, but not out, Garvey Maceo showed more purpose on the attacking front on the resumption and created a few half chances, which amounted to nothing.
From there, the contest offered very little to write home about as Glenmuir showed very little in attack, seemingly content with what they already had, while Garvey Maceo did little to trouble their opponents defensive line.
Garvey Maceo’s head coach Lester Hibbert believes indiscipline led to their demise.
“We gave them instructions to stay with their markers because Glenmuir was doing a lot of movements. When we started the game, we kept them behind the ball but we lost the discipline and conceded two goals, so we just have to brush ourselves off and come again for the next game on Wednesday,” Hibbert said.
Saturday’s results
Vere Technical 0, Kemps Hill 2
Glenmuir 2, Garvey Maceo 0
Foga Road 6, Porus 0
William Knibb 5, Holland 0
Maggotty High 1, Newell 0
Mannings 9, Godfrey Stewart 0
Alston 1, Troy 0
Herbert Morrison 3, St James 0
Anchovy 1, Rusea’s High 0
B.B Coke 1, Munro College 0
Lennon 0, Clarendon College 2
Irwin High 3, Green Pond High 3
Spot Valley 2, Cedric Titus 0
Port Antonio 2, Wycliffe Martin High 0
Grange Hill 1, Black River 2
Maldon 0, Cornwall College 1