STGC steamroll Campion in Manning Cup

Photo: Gregory Messam Jr of St. Georges College strokes home his second penalty against Campion College on Friday in the ISSA/LIME Manning Cup. STGC won the game 11-1.

This Manning Cup report is brought to you by Ensure Active Mucsle

The crowd descends on the stadium at 2:30pm, horns blaring and anticipation high among the partisan fans. A vendor sells horns and flags, highlighting that the horns are that of the team colours. The coach stands by, calm, relaxed, hands in pocket. He glances at his watch and as if on cue, the sprinklers come on. The noise levels go up a few decibels. Not even at the National Stadium do fans see sprinklers come on. The school’s marching band arrives with drums beating loudly, it is a frenzied atmosphere now. They are ready.

The coach rolls a few balls onto the immaculate playing surface after the sprinklers go off. It is clear that the pristinely manicured surface has been recently cut. The white lines glisten in the warm Caribbean sun. The players sit quietly on the bench awaiting the signal from their coach. The signal is given and they rise as one to begin their warm up routine. It is seamless, poetic in motion. They are all in unison.

The stage is set for a perfect afternoon of football.

The bus arrives carrying the opponents. The fans, almost as if choreographed, move towards the bus, horns blaring even louder than before. A definite act of intimidation. The frightened team disembarks the bus, the players eyes are wide open, they view their surroundings and realize the massive home support. They go through their warm up routine. It is mechanical, uncoordinated and disconnected.

The referee blows the whistle indicating he is ready to start the game. Winchester Park becomes deafeningly loud as the crowd gets ready in anticipation of a massacre. It is not “El Classico” at the Berbabeau, it is St. Georges College hosting Campion College in the Group A first round encounter in the ISSA/LIME Manning Cup competition.
STGC wins the toss and the skipper chooses to kick to the sea without hesitation. Campion gets the kickoff and for the first three minutes they are all over their hosts. Desperately trying to hit STGC hard and fast. Campion’s early possession amounts to nothing, as they fail to register a single shot on target.

STGC clear their lines and the long ball catches out the Campion defence, Amoy Brown leaves his marker for dead and races into the box, the chance is there to shoot on goal but he unselfishly passes to his teammate Shevon Stewart at the far post who side foots into the net. Campion are trailing by a goal to nil after four minutes. It is the first attack by the home team, it is the first shot on target. It is the first goal.

The boys in sky blue grow in confidence. They begin stroking the ball around on a surface that caters to their type of game. Campion is chasing shadows.

Another long ball catches out the Campion defence and Brown is again off to the races. He shoots on target but it is tipped over by the Campion goalkeeper, Christopher Lynch. STGC look ominous in possession. Campion are unable to put 3 passes together and are unable to keep hold of the ball in their opponents half.

STGC look ominous on every possession. They are set up like Bayern Munich. Gregory Messam Jr is playing out on the left. He is big and strong and has the pace and trickery to get by his marker time and time again before cutting in on his stronger right foot to devastating effect. Alex Marshall is on the right. His deft skills are a nightmare for his marker. He is of the Arjen Robben mold, slipping by defender after defender as he weaves his way across the top of the box before firing at the goal.

Campion is constantly on the retreat before the dam finally breaks. A penalty is awarded for a rash challenge. Messam Jr steps up to take it. Someone is hurt on the play and requires treatment. Lynch comes off his line and moves the ball. He tries to intimidate Messam. Play resumes, the big forward stokes the ball along the ground, into the back of the net, with consummate ease. The mind games of Lynch have failed, it’s 2-0.

Barely two minutes later, Messam is released down the left flank. He brushes by his marker and drives into the box. Foul. Penalty. It’s Messam again. No more mind games from Lynch. Messam steps up, stutter step, then goes to the same side, only this time it is high into the roof of the net. The score is now 3-0 and we have played barely a quarter of the game.

Midway the first half Stewart is released and as Lynch races off his line the centre forward keeps his composure, slips around the keeper and slots into an empty. He is the second player from St. Georges to score two goals in a game that is only 26 minutes old and STGC is comfortable at 4-0.

The tall and powerful Brown who has been a handful for the Campion defenders finally gets on the score sheet with a simple side footed effort. Marshall then joins the party a minute later as he pokes past an advancing Lynch. This is the sixth time Lynch takes the ball out of his net in the space of 35 minutes.

Five minutes before the half time whistle, Stewart completes his hat-trick after Lynch dives over the ball and the stocky player rams it home from almost on the goal line. 7-0 at half time. It is a nightmare for the team from “up town”.

The game resumes after the interval and the visitors take on a completely defensive posture. The STGC players have it too easy. They begin to over play it in and around the area. The final pass is being misplaced and chances are being missed. It is understandable. It is too easy.

All the while however, Jevoun McKellar is doing his job. The STGC right back is overlapping every chance he gets, just as he did in the first half, to deadly effect. His crosses are landing in good places inside the box, but his teammates are failing to put the chances away.

Marshall opens the scoring in the second half when he controls on the chest and strokes it into the corner of the net for his second of the game; 8-0.

STGC makes a change and Damani Harris is introduced. He doesn’t take long to make an impact. He rewards McKellar for all the hard work he has been doing by converting one of the crosses. It’s 9-0 now and 64 minutes have been played.

The game now resembles a training session of forwards versus defence. Campion is penned in by the marauding STGC. Then in the 67th minute, the goal of the game. Marshall picks up the ball on the right side and sets himself for the shot. He releases a beautiful curling effort beyond the despairing dive of Lynch, into the top corner of the net to make it 10-0 and completes his hat-trick.

The shoulders drop and the heads hang, the boys in red are overwhelmed. But their captain Jervaze Greeen doesn’t stop working and as the STGC defenders go to sleep, they gift him a goal and the score is now 10-1. The few Campion fans who made the trek are screaming. They finally have something to cheer about.

Order is soon restored when Harris gets his second of the game. He makes it 11-1 and completes the scoring in the match.

In the post game interview, STGC assistant coach Marcel Gayle says,” It was a workman like performance.”
If 11 goals is workman like, then the rest of the teams in the competition need to be worried.

There is a reason St. Georges College is so successful in schoolboy football. It is a part of their DNA, they live for it, they prepare for it and their organization is almost perfect. Add to that the quality of their playing surface and it is no wonder that year after year Bertis Bell has his team playing some of the best football in the country!