Winning start for Excelsior, Norman Manley

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Former champions Excelsior High and Norman Manley registered exciting victories over Tivoli Gardens (TG) and Wolmer's, respectively, in the opening matches in Group Three of the second round in the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup urban area schoolboy football competition, at Constant Spring Sports Complex yesterday.

The Leebert Halliman-coached Excelsior defeated TG 2-1 courtesy of a brace from national Under-20 striker, Neco Brett. The very speedy and crafty Brett scored his goals in the 38th and 89th minutes for Excelsior, which won back-to-back titles in 2003-04.

Barrington Pryce scored for TG in the 45th minute.

In the other game, Norman Manley edged Wolmer's 1-0. Dean Phillips scored the lone goal for Norman Manley, netting from the penalty spot in the 90th minute.

Both winning teams head the group's round robin play-offs with three points apiece. Overall, there are three four-team groups in the second round. The winner of each group, as well as the leading second-place team overall, will advance to the semi-finals.

"I am very happy with my team's performance because we defended well and we scored two goals and we were able to collect all three points," said Halliman.

Dave Clarke, coach of TG, said: "I think that if we had come prepared we would have won this game because I don't think that this Excelsior is much stronger than us."

The Norman Manley-Wolmer's match failed to live up to expectations as both teams cancelled out each other on every possession in mid-pitch.

Miguel Coley, the coach of Norman Manley, was happy with his team's performance.

"This victory means the world to us, and we would like to carry this momentum into our next two games," said Coley.

Games on

• Charlie Smith vs St Andrew Technical at 1 p.m. at Spanish Town Prison Oval
• Eltham vs Waterford at 3 p.m. at Spanish Town Prison Oval