Former champions Camperdown High took a giant step towards securing a spot in the second round of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup competition with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Edith Dalton James High at the Alpha Boys field yesterday.

Eladeo Mowatt in the 24th minute and captain Jeovanni Laing (32nd) were the goalscorers for the winners.

The victory pushed the Christopher Bender-coached Camperdown to 15 points, eight ahead of second-place Hydel High, who have a game in hand.

Bender said his team, despite the victory, still has to improve a lot to do better in future engagements.

“I think we dropped our level in the second half. A bit of complacency set in,” said Bender. He said this was expected as the team played three games in five days.

“We just have to learn from this and move forward,” he said. “We definitely have to do much better in upcoming games.”

He added: “However, we still have not played our strongest team yet due to some injuries here and there.”

Camperdown, who last won the Manning Cup in 1982, dominated the early exchanges and were finally rewarded when Mowatt arrived in the centre of the 18 yards box to fire home a left-sided cross from Ronaldo Edwards.

Laing, who is playing in the competition for the fourth consecutive year, doubled his team’s lead when he arrived at the back post to head home a corner kick past Edith Dalton James’ custodian Michael Grant.

Camperdown dominated the second half of the encounter, but they were let down by faulty shooting from their attackers.

Edith Dalton James’ best scoring opportunity in the second half fell at the feet of Jevaughn Rose, but his effort from 12 yards went wide of the target.