KC clip Campion College in thriller, STATHS cruise

THE VASSELL Reynolds-coached Kingston College (KC) had to dig deep to rally from a two-goal deficit to beat Campion College 3-2 as round of 16 action in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup got under way at the Ashenheim Stadium yesterday.

Campion, who started the hotter of the two, made their intentions known as early as the 20th minute when Tyler Falconer pounced upon a goalkeeping error by Dominic Falconer to lash home a left-footed strike.

That lead would double five minutes later as Djaz Less via a free kick scored a header which left the Kingston College supporters dumbfounded.

KC’s best chance of the half would fall to Dejuan Green in the 34th minute, but his header went over the bar in the 34th minute.

In truth, KC enjoyed the majority of possession in that first half and increased the pressure in the second, getting goals from Demario Dailey in the 58th minute, an equaliser in the 83rd minute courtesy of Oneil Bryan’s thunderbolt and with three minutes left in the encounter, Robert Seow broke the hearts of Campion, bundling the ball over the line from close range.

Reynolds lauded his team for showing guts and mining an invaluable lead heading into Wednesday’s return leg.

“Second half we just asked the boys to keep on fighting and keep pushing Campion back. We knew that they would try and run down the clock, so we tried to do our plans quickly to keep them on their backfoot,” said Reynolds.

Ashton Blankson, head coach of Campion College, thought his boys ran out of gas on the day.

“As the legs got tired we strayed a little bit and it became harder to track the players and then we started to give away possession easily. I think that is what played a factor and playing against a quality team like KC, eventually they would have gotten a breakthrough,” Blakson explained.

In the day’s opening encounter, St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) continued their fine form, comfortably getting by Kingston Technical High School 4-0 thanks to goals by Richard Livingston (58th and 83rd minute), Leon Brown (73rd), and Thierry Merritt in the 88th.

Phillip Williams, head coach of STATHS explained that despite the sluggish start, he was confident to know that his team only needed one to gather their momentum.

“We started off slow but we know the difference that goals can make and we knew that from we got one, then the game would get easier for us,” coach Williams explained.

orane.buchanan@gleanerjm.com

Yesterday’s Results

Kingston Technical 0-4 STATHS

St Jago 0-2 St George’s College

Tivoli 0-0 Haile Selassie

St Catherine 2-0 Wolmer’s

Hydel 0-0 Excelsior

Eltham 0-3 Jamaica College

Campion College 2-3 Kingston College

Jonathan Grant 0-4 Mona