Photo: Gavain Brown of Kingston College takes on a Campion defender in Manning Cup action yesterday. KC beat Campion 2-1 to advance to the second round of the Manning Cup.
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Kingston College squeezed into the second round of the ISSA/LIME Manning Cup competition when they edged Campion College 2-1 at Campion on Thursday, in a game they should have closed out from the first half. Having lost consecutive games, 7-0 to St. Georges College and 4-2 to Waterford High the pressure was on KC to get the three points and guarantee passage to the next round.
KC entered the contest trailing second placed Waterford by a point and with a significantly inferior goal difference, which meant that they had to get three points to progress. They thought they were ahead after just 9 minutes when Jerome Coombs headed home from a free kick, however it was ruled out for offside.
KC continued their pursuit of the opening goal, not letting Campion out of their own half, dominating the play but unable to break the deadlock. Lincoln Henry and Kashane Jones dominated the midfield with Dashaun Donaldson on the right and Gavain Brown on the left, attacking at will down the flanks.
After wasting a number of clear opportunities, KC finally got on the score sheet in the 30th minute when Coombs slotted home. The forward reacted quickest to a rebound off the upright following a left footed shot from Thompson.
Campion finally got a shot at goal with just over thirty minutes played but Kurt Patrick Phillips’ effort was high and wide.
The visitors continued to dominate the game and created many more goal scoring chances including one on one opportunities for Coombs and Jerome Lodge but neither of them was able to put away any of the chances as KC led 1-0 at the break.
The second half was almost a replica of the first as KC continued to dominate the midfield through Henry and Jones while the raids down the flanks by Donaldson and Brown continued to create chances for Coombs and Lodge. Campion looked especially susceptible to the ball over the top as the backline was caught square on most occasions, however the deficit remained just one as Coombs, who was particularly wasteful, and Lodge, failed to make use of the chances.
Needing to try something different to get an insurance goal, KC coach Neil Harrison brought in Tajoy Rix for Coombs. KC eventually found the second goal in the 7th minute when Lodge raced onto a ball over the top and as Christopher Lynch raced off his line to intercept he lifted the ball over the custodian and into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
Campion did manage to make it interesting when they pulled one back in the 89th minute. Trevaughn Brown flapped at a cross from a corner kick and Lorne Barrett rose highest to head home just moments after keeper had denied Mario Barnes from a brilliantly struck free kick.
KC managed to survive a nervous three minutes of added time as Campion tried desperately to spoil their party.
Coach Harrison was happy that his team had advanced after all the off the field distractions in the past few days.
“We are happy with the win and now we move into the second round. We have almost two weeks to prepare so I can take that time to get to know the players better and get them to understand the system of play a lot better. I am under no pressure from the school to get results so we just have to prepare well and try to make the most of the opportunity we have right now,” he said.
KC finished as runners-up in Group A behind winners St. Georges College.
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