STGC open account with goal spree

ST GEORGE’S College (STGC) signalled their intention of winning their first Manning Cup title in 13 years after opening their account in Group F with a 16-0 mauling of Pembroke Hall at Winchester Park on Wednesday.

Matthew Spence led the Neville ‘Bertis’ Bell-coached team with four goals (10th, 75th, 85th, and 90+1), captain Adrian Reid Jr and Brian Burkett bagged first-half hat-tricks, and David Grantson (52nd, 78th), Tae-Sean O’Neil (16th, 87th) and Ryland Campbell (38th, 62nd) had braces.

It took STGC five minutes to get off the mark, Reid firing home. He was back at it again before the end of the half, adding two more. Burkett netted three and Spence, Campbell and O’Neil scored one each as the home team went into the break with a 9-0 lead at the interval.

“There was not much more we could ask of them. We got nine goals in the first half. Pembroke Hall, they tried to press us in certain areas but it’s a learning curve for them,” STGC’s assistant coach Marcel Gayle said.

The North Street school took a while to settle into their game after the break but Grantson reopened the floodgates in the 52nd minute and Campbell added another 10 minutes after. Spence scored the second of his four in the 75th before Grantson made it 12-0 in the 78th. Spence sealed his hat-trick in the 85th minute, O’Neil made it 15-0 two minutes later before Spence sealed his four-timer, one minute into added time.

NO INJURIES

“The most important thing today is that we suffered no injuries. We will take it a game at a time. We got 16 (goals) today, and we must credit the players for that. The players played to instructions and their execution was excellent today,” said Gayle.

Pembroke Hall coach Keith Johnson said his squad was ravaged by players who were unqualified academically to participate in the competition.

“The summer programme we had wasn’t up to scratch and we trained a portion of guys for the Manning Cup, and, when the registration started, 16 out of the 25 were not qualified.

“It’s only two months that I have been there, and these guys are only 14, 15 and a couple are 16 years old. So, it’s a work in progress,” he said.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com

Yesterday’s Results

Camperdown 0-1 Charlie Smith

Ascott 1-1 Vauxhall

Jose Marti 4-0 Ardenne

STGC 16-0 Pembroke Hall

Waterford 0-0 Campion