JC, Wolmer's, STGC, XLCR advance

Jermaine Lannaman, Star Writer

Traditional rivals Jamaica College (JC), Wolmer's, St George's College and Excelsior High joined STATHS, Bridgeport and Eltham as early qualifiers for the second round of the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup after recording impressive wins yesterday.

JC and Wolmer's, who are battling for honours in Group C, and an automatic berth into the quarter-final round of the Walker Cup, defeated Mona and Jonathan Grant 14-0 and 1-0 respectively, while over in Group E where St George's and Excelsior are the leading contenders, St George's blanked Camperdown 5-1 and Excelsior got the better of Ardenne 6-0.

Elsewhere, reigning Walker Cup champions Calabar and last year's beaten semi-finalists Waterford moved one step closer to qualification from Group B after registering 1-0 and 3-0 wins over Pembroke Hall and Donald Quarrie, respectively, while in Group A, Tivoli and Spanish Town moved to within a point of advancing following 4-1 and 2-0 wins over Campion and Tarrant respectively.

32nd minute strike

At Pembroke Hall, Calabar controlled the encounter throughout, but in the end only had one goal, a 32nd-minute strike from Richard Edite, to show for it.

The first half was a very lukewarm affair, with Calabar creating at least three chances in the first 10 minutes. However, thanks to some good reflex saves from Pembroke Hall custodian Daniel Ennis and wayward shooting, they could not penetrate the home team's net.

controlling possession

The second half was pretty much like the first with Calabar controlling possession, but lacking a midfield 'maestro', or a busy forward, they were unable to convert their superiority into goals. It must be said, however, like the first half, they were denied on at least three occasions by the acrobatic Ennis, whose good positioning and quick reflexes were again very good.

"It was a fairly easy game, although the score didn't really reflect our dominance," said Calabar coach Alrick Clarke. "It's, however, a progression, and we are happy where we are at. We just need one more point to qualify," he added.

Pembroke Hall's coach, Maurice Stanley, said his preparation was hampered by the KSAFA Under-17 competition.

"With better preparation and commit-ment from the players, we could have performed much better this season," he said. "Like a number of other teams, our preparations were affected by the staging of the KSAFA Under-17 competition, as most of our players are from that age group, so we couldn't assemble squads properly and build a team."