Calabar clobber KT to go top of Zone D

IN A game which was already won by the half-time whistle, Calabar High School were in cruise control as they dispatched Kingston Technical (KT) 8-1 yesterday in their ISSA/WATA Manning Cup game at Calabar High School’s field yesterday.

Calabar raced out the blocks as they piled on the goals early in the contest, scoring thrice in the opening 15 minutes of play.

By half-time, they held a commanding 7-0 lead.

Goals from Jayden Perry in the first and 21st minutes, Kimani Thompson (5’), Ronaldinho Williams (11’), O’Bryan Marks (26’), Anthony McDonald (41’), Sheldon Pusey (44’), and Miguel Logan (90+3’) led the way for Calabar.

Calabar head coach Andrew Price said he was more than impressed with his team’s first-half performance in front of goal.

“I think we completely dominated the first half,” he said. “It was excellent. We were very potent and very aggressive and very clinical in front of the goal.

“I have been asking for the team to be clinical when we’re practising in front of the goal and practising our finishing. It is good to see them come up trumps today and get the goals in the first half.”

In the second half, however, Calabar seemed to have lost their goalscoring intent following a string of substitutions.

The boys from Red Hills Road instead went into game management mode.

However, they would concede after a defensive mistake allowed Nicoy Walters through on goal.

Price said the second half was an opportunity for him to give minutes to younger players who would not have played much this season.

He had hope they could have continued scoring but chalked their dip in form to inexperience at the Manning Cup level.

“The second half, after we made some changes and gave some players playing time, I think we dropped our intensity and our aggressiveness. We weren’t able to show the same dominance that we showed in the first half.”

Calabar added one more goal in the dying minutes of the game to complete the rout.

KT’s head coach, Francis Murray, said the heavy defeat came from a slow start which his team failed to recover from.

He said the priority now is to move past the loss and recover for the remaining games in the zone.

“I think we exhibited some nervousness and we didn’t hit the ground running, to be honest, and as a result, we fell behind quickly,” he said.

“It will have a big impact on the team but we just have to go back to our core values rather than nervous and jittery and abandoning what we’ve practised.”

The win sees Calabar moving atop Zone D with seven points while KT remain at the bottom of the zone without a point.

Yesterday’s Results

Ardenne 0-4 Dunoon

Calabar 8-1 KT

Papine 3-1 Manley