LADY luck was on the side of striker Michael Sutherland of St. George's College yesterday as he scored on the stroke of half-time to hand his school an important 1-0 victory over Group leaders St. Anne's Comprehensive in their Sports Plus/Pepsi Manning Cup game at Emmett Park yesterday.
Sent clear by a defence-splitting pass from Andre Townsend, Sutherland was presented with a glorious chance at goal but under pressure from goalkeeper Kevin Graham he gave up the chase. Graham collected the ball, but to his dismay it fell out of his hands and in the path of Sutherland who hammered home.
It was a crucial victory for St. George's College as they are now on the brink of qualifying for the second round of the competition which will involve 12 teams, including the top two from each Group.
St. Anne's who thrashed St. George's 5-1 when they met earlier in the season, were joined at the top of the table by Dunoon Technical, who battled to a 2-2 draw with Vauxhall at Cement Company's field.
Both teams are tied on 16 points while St. George's College and Calabar, who hammered Campion 4-1, are one point adrift with 15 points apiece.
The scoreline was not a true reflection of the game as St. Anne's dominated play, especially in the entire second half, but came away empty handed. This was as a result of the home team playing a defensive game after scoring in time added on in the first half.
St. George's created the first chance, in the 18th minute when they caught St. Anne's by surprise by abandoning their short-passing game with long diagonal passes. Mahish Alexander booted a long ball across the field to Jermaine Spence and his thunderous shot from 20 yards out caught the defenders by surprise and flashed just inches wide of the far post.
St. George's abandoned their attacking play in the second half and that resulted in St. Anne's gaining lots of free runs at goal. Roger Glave, Troyann Williams and Paul Smellie lifted their game and were able to put together good passes deep inside St. George's half, but their efforts were denied by stubborn defensive work from the home team.
