Calabar hammer Excelsior 5-1

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

Calabar High underlined their status as one of the legitimate contenders in this year's ISSA/Gatorade/ Digicel Manning Cup when they defeated Group A rivals Excelsior 5-1 at Courtney Walsh Oval, Excelsior, yesterday.

The showdown, which was played amid drum-beating and flag-waving supporters of both institutions, saw Calabar coming out on top courtesy of a brace from Kyle Scott and a goal apiece from from outstanding captain Wilbourne Williams, Chevanne Marsh and Shane Franklin.

Zhelano Barnes scored for Excelsior in the 57th minute.

The result moved Calabar to an unassailable 21 points. In addition to already securing a spot in the second round of the Manning Cup, they have now secured a place in the eight-team Walker Cup knockout.

Excelsior, who prior to yesterday had also qualified for the second round of the Manning Cup - with two rounds of matches remaining - remained on 15 points.

"I must admit, we were expecting a much tougher game, but I guess we caught them off-guard with a change in game strategy," said Calabar's head coach, Marvin Tate.

"In the first leg of the tie, which ended 2-1 in our favour, we used a 3-5-2 formation. However, today we switched it to 3-6-1 and they had no answer.

"It's a good win and the hope is that we will continue to get better and better, as it's a very disciplined and coachable group and the aim is to seriously challenge for the title," Tate declared.

After a fairly dull first half in which both teams failed to spark, the tempo increased in the second. In the 51st minute Calabar went in front through Franklin, who was on hand to tap home from a goalmouth melee.

Their lead, however, lasted only six minutes thanks to a curling free kick from national Under-17 representative, Barnes, which was mishandled by goalkeeper Richard Chambers, that brought Excelsior level.

That, however, was the last time the home team's supporters were given a chance to cheer. With strikes from Scott in the 64th and 68th minutes; a penalty from Williams in the 67th minute - after the otherwise outstanding Ryan Jackson was red-carded for violent play; and Marsh in the 86th, Calabar were able to close out the match convincingly.

"It's one of the worst home defeats I have ever seen at Excelsior, both when I was a player and thereafter," said Excelsior coach, Baris Johnson.

"It's an embarrassing result, and we will have to sit down and assess what went wrong, as we not only want to qualify, but we want to bounce back and do well in the second round."

The group's other slated encounter between St Catherine and Holy Trinity was rained out.

Yesterday's results

Group A

Excelsior 1 Calabar 5

St Catherine v Holy Trinity (rained out)

Group C

Vauxhall 0 Wolmer's 5

Haile Selassie 0 Ascot 4

Dunoon 0 Charlie Smith 8

Group E

St George's College 5 Tarrant 1

Spanish Town 2 Meadowbrook 0

Innswood v Edith Dalton (rained out)

Today's matches

Group B

Denham Town vs Waterford

Tivoli vs Campion College

Papine vs Hydel

Group D

Camperdown vs St Jago

Jamaica College vs Cumberland

Kingston Technical vs Pembroke Hall

Group F

Donald Quarrie vs Penwood

Ardenne vs Kingston College

Group G

Oberlin vs Bridgeport

St Mary's College vs José Marti