Walters strike sends St Catherine atop Zone G

THE Anthony Patrick-coached St Catherine ended the first round of the ISSA Manning Cup competition undefeated as they clipped Zone G rivals St George’s College 1-0, courtesy of a Romaine Walters strike yesterday at Winchester Park.

Both teams entered the top-of-the-table clash looking to close off the opening round on a high but St Catherine surprised the hosts after a quick start. They ended the first round with 22 points, three more than St George’s.

St Catherine were quick out of the blocks as Kadean Young cracked a warning shot as early as the opening minute. Six minutes later, teammate Dwight Gentles was also gifted a goalscoring opportunity but missed from close range as the home team, St George’s College, failed to settle early. Not until the 24th minute did they register a shot on goal which was saved by St Catherine’s custodian Omarion Brown. As both teams went in search of a goal, it was St Catherine who answered the call and opened the scoring through Walters, whose tame shot beat goalkeeper Jordan Knight in the 28th minute.

In the second half, St George’s found goalscoring chances hard to come by and had to wait until the 83rd minute when a Kevaughn Brown header was saved easily by goalkeeper Brown. In the 89th minute, St Catherine’s Terray Harvey was gifted an opportunity to double the lead but failed to capitalise as he sent his effort over the cross bar.

Neville Bell, technical director of St George’s, stated that, despite the defeat, he believes his team did well heading into the second round.

“I thought we did well and had we gotten a goal in the first half, then who knows. It was a really nice football game. I don’t think we were bad, as we just didn’t get the goal. Omarion Brown (St Catherine’s goalkeeper) was the difference. We’re good and are in a good position,” he stated.

Donovan Lofters, assistant coach of St Catherine, explained that he was pleased with the display from his team, as they defeated St George’s on their home ground.

“It’s very pleasing when you play a game like this, which was a solid one. We showed some guts coming here and defeating them on their home ground. In the opening round, we got a lot of rest between matches. So we’re not in proper match conditioning. So, hopefully, with the matches coming faster you’ll now see more fluidity from the team. We’ll get better as we go along,” he said.

orane.buchanan@gleanerjm.com

Yesterday’s result

St George’s 0-1 St Catherine

Today’s games

Hydel vs Eltham

Ardenne vs Clan Carthy

Mona vs Charlie Smith

Waterford vs Tarrant

Jonathan Grant vs Gaynstead

STATHS vs Haile Selassie

All games kick off at 3:30 p.m.