Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

Charlie Smith's Leroy Clarke (second right) heads the ball which is close to the knees of Ascot's Vaughn Weir (right) and Adrian McGow (second left), while Charlie Smith's Kemar Brown (partly hidden) reacts during their Manning Cup match at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex, yesterday. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

On a day when only one match was played in the Inter-Secondary Schools Association (ISSA)/Pepsi/-Digicel Manning Cup competition due to torrential rains, which have been lashing sections of the island over the past couple of days, Charlie Smith, led by a brace from Earl Palmer, defeated Ascot 3-0 at the Tony Spaulding Complex, yesterday.

Charlie Smith now lead Group E with 14 points followed by Camperdown 11, Greater Portmore eight and Ascot six.

Following the loss, which basically severely dented their qualifying hopes, Everald Campbell, coach of Ascot, said, "We didn't show any character in today's game. We just sit back and let Charlie Smith dominate the game, which saw us giving up three simple goals. Our main aim now is to see if we can get nine points from our next three games and hope that we can qualify for the second round of the competition."

Pleased with effort

Meanwhile, Jerome Waite, coach Charlie Smith, was pleased with his team's effort.

"The conditions were a bit heavy today but I think the team played fairly well, the other team didn't have much to offer, but it is good to see another of our players scoring two goals," said Waite.

He added, "We have a pretty young team, the average age is about 16 years and nine months. We are hoping that we can make it to the second round, this is something that we are looking forward to based on the young batch that we have this year."

Charlie Smith dominated from the opening whistle and were finally reward in the 21st minute when Palmer fired home a 20-yard free kick past goalkeeper Ricardo Boucher. Kemar Douglas made it 2-0 in the 34th minute when he picked-up a ball from the centre of midfield, then out-sprinted three Ascot defenders and fired home a powerful right-footed shot past the advancing Boucher.

Palmer completed the scoring nine minutes into the second period with a powerfully struck right-footed shot, which went as a rocket past Boucher.

In today's matches: (Group B) - Jose Marti vs Donald Quarrie and Eltham vs Kingston High; (Group C) - Kingston Technical vs St. Catherine, Campion College vs Calabar and Wolmer's vs Meadowbrook; (Group D) - Dunoon vs Norman Manley and St. George's College vs Penwood; (Group F) - Cumberland vs Excelsior, Trench Town vs St. Andrew Technical and Jonathan Grant vs Vauxhall.