Cumberland hold Trinity in Manning Cup

Hosts Cumberland High and Holy Trinity High had to settle for a share of the points in their Group A ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup match yesterday.

Holy Trinity dominated the first half and created numerous opportunities but only had Okelo Howard’s 16th-minute strike to show for the chances they created. However, in the second half, the hosts grabbed an early equaliser three minutes after the interval thanks to Jhevante Grant’s free kick, and had their opponents against the ropes for the most part but could not take full advantage.

FAULTY FINISHING

Both coaches said that poor finishing denied their team of maximum points.

“The top team (in the group) drew with us, but only because of faulty finishing. We had the game. The whole first half, we outplayed them but never put away the chances and only scored one. Then in the second half, a soft goal was scored on us,” Holy Trinity’s coach Devon Anderson said.

“We have a lot of young players, a lot of new players, just coming into the team. It’s no excuse as we should have put the game away and we didn’t, so tough luck. We just have to go back to the drawing board,” he continued.

Holy Trinity remain third in the table with five points, four behind leaders Haile Selassie and three adrift of Cumberland, but Anderson is confident that his team will make up ground in the second half of the first round.

“Most definitely, from now, we will go from strength to strength. We are creating a lot of chances, but in front of goal we need to be more clinical. So as soon as we sort out the problem, it will be all engines running. The zone is very close at the moment,” he said.

Cumberland coach Kemar Brown also thought that they should have won but was pleased that his team was able to finish the first round unbeaten.

“We should have got more than the point because we got some half-chances, but we were just poor in front of goal. Our forwards did not turn up, but one (point) is better than zero, and I would take that any day. Holy Trinity are one of the seeded teams in the zone, and they never made life easy for us today,” he said.

YESTERDAY’S RESULTS

Group A

• Haile Selassie 3 Clan Carthy 0

• St Jago vs Bridgeport (rained out)

TODAY’S GAMES

Group D

• Edith Dalton vs Tivoli High

• St Mary’s College vs Mona High

• Meadowbrook vs Hydel

Group E

• Tarrant vs Jamaica College

• José Marti vs Innswood

• Greater Portmore vs Wolmer’s