Excelsior, Vauxhall join quarterfinalists

BUOYED BY their home fans, Excelsior High School got the better of Tivoli Gardens High 3-2 in a fiercely contested affair yesterday to advance to the quarterfinals of the ISSA/WATA Manning Cup competition.

Terrence Williams opened the scoring for Excelsior in the fifth minute before a brace from Kimarly Scott in the 34th and 46th extended their lead.

Jeremy Forbes pulled one back for Tivoli in the 74th, while Horace Morgan also found the back of the net in the 90th.

In the other game in Group 1, St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS), who had already booked their spot in the quarterfinals, fell 1-0 to Wolmer’s Boys’.

The result means Excelsior finished atop the group with six points, tied with STATHS, but hold the advantage with a better goal difference.

Both Tivoli and Wolmers’, each with three points, will compete in the ISSA Walker Cup knockout competition.

Keon Broderick, Excelsior’s head coach, praised his team for the win, but felt their second-half performance allowed Tivoli to find a footing in the game.

“One of the things that we asked the boys to do was to come out and be aggressive from the whistle, and they were aggressive and intense,” he said.

“But really and truly, it was a game of two halves. I think Tivoli did a very good job in terms of pressing us in the second half, and they were able to get two goals as a result. I thought we could have done better in the second half.”

He continued, “But we were actually able to get the three points, and that’s the most important thing.”

It was the home team which started the better of the two, immediately looking for the opener.

Williams found purchase within five minutes, capping off a brilliant run into the box by dismissing his defender with a fake shot before slotting it neatly in at the near post.

Tivoli tried to respond in the 16th minute when Ryan-O’Neil Francis intercepted a ball in the middle of the park. The forward skipped past one marker before playing in Davonique Goldbourne.

Goldbourne, however, could not get his shot off as a recovering Rojawn Small closed down the space to make a last-ditch tackle.

Excelsior doubled the lead just past the half-hour mark as prolific striker Scott added his name to the scoresheet. With a show of striker’s initiative, he sent a low-driven effort from distance that caught goalkeeper Daniel Bailey off his line.

Scott returned for his second of the afternoon just a minute into the second half, this time expertly heading home from a corner.

Kivann Salmon had an opportunity to add a fourth when he stepped up to take a penalty 10 minutes later, but he failed to put his effort on target.

Tivoli looked to mount a comeback when Forbes, with 15 minutes left on the clock, reacted quickest in the box to tap into an empty net from point-blank range.

As time dwindled, Tivoli turned on the pressure as they went searching for a result.

The towering defender Dave Campbell came close in the dying minutes, but his header from a corner whistled wide of the mark.

Morgan found their second as he ran through to finish into an empty net from an initial save made by goalkeeper Jamari Gordon.

His goal proved a consolation effort at the full time as Excelsior saw out the win.

In Group 3, last year’s beaten finalists, St Catherine High School, found themselves out at the round of 16 despite a 5-1 win over St George’s College. St Catherine ended third in the group on four points after Charlie Smith and Vauxhall played out a 1-1 draw to leave them on seven and five, respectively.

gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com

Yesterday’s Results

Wolmer’s 1-0 STATHS

Exceslior 3-2 Tivoli

Vauxhall 1-1 Charlie Smith

St Catherine 5-1 St George’s