C'Smith book berth in last four

Robert Bailey, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Former champions Charlie Smith booked their spot in the semi-finals of the Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA/Gatorade/Digicel Manning Cup competition with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Spanish Town in their Group J encounter at the Spanish Town Prison Oval yesterday.

With one round of matches remaining in the group, Charlie Smith lead with six points, four ahead of Bridgeport, Waterford and Spanish Town, on one each.

Yesterday, Charlie Smith were led to victory courtesy of a brace from Jovani Simms and an own -goal by a Spanish Town defender.

Charlie Smith are the first to qualify for the last four of the competition and coach Jerome Waite was very elated with his team's efforts.

"It is a good feeling and the boys are upbeat because this is the first time in a long time that we have made it into the semi-finals," said Waite. "This Charlie Smith team is growing in confidence and we are playing well together as unit, and I know that we will be a force to be reckoned with in the semi-finals," he added.

comfortable victory

Over in Group K, defending champions Jamaica College (JC) took a giant towards securing their place in the semi-finals with a comfortable 3-0 victory over St Andrew Technical (STATHS) at the Constant Spring Sports Complex.

Junior Flemming (39th), Nicholas Scott (42nd) and substitute Reheem Manning (80th) were the scorers for the Alfred Henry-coached JC.

The victory moved JC to six points, two ahead of Kingston College (KC) (four), who were held to a 0-0 by Excelsior (one) in the second match of the double-header. STATHS are yet to record a point from their two games in the round.

JC will face KC in the final match of the group on November 15 at the same venue.

Delroy Brown, assistant coach of the JC, said: "Three points and three goals were good but we still have a lot of work to do because it wasn't a good performance from us." He added: "It was a good result going forward in this group because we are in a good position."

Trevor 'Jumpy' Harris, coach of KC, whose team was pegged back by a spirited performance from a 10-man Excelsior team, said he was disappointed with his team's efforts.

"It puts us in a situation were we must beat JC, and I believe my team can do it," said Harris. "We had a fairly decent game and weren't able to score. Now we will have to come back against JC and do what we have to do," Harris stated.

Excelsior were reduced to 10 players in the 12th minute when Ojai Bedward was sent off after receiving a second yellow card. However, KC failed to capitalise on the one-man advantage as a very organised Excelsior defensive unit kept them at bay.