Camperdown High school put on a master class performance against home team Charlie Smith for the first 45 minutes as action continued yesterday in the LIME/ISSA Manning Cup football competition.
Camperdown High school put on a master class performance against home team Charlie Smith for the first 45 minutes as action continued yesterday in the LIME/ISSA Manning Cup football competition.
The red and blue clad team brought back memories of the early 80’s when they dominated the schoolboy scene, with a masterful display of passing football that a young and inexperienced Charlie Smith team had no answer for.
The Christopher Bender coached boys started the game on the front foot, first to every loose ball and strong in every tackle. Not surprisingly, they were able to stun the home fans when they got the opener with barely seven minutes on the clock. A long diagonal pass from captain Hugh Evans was collected by Kevin Clarke who slipped by his marker before coolly finishing to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Camperdown were playing the 4-3-3 formation to good effect and Charlie Smith had no answer for Clarke down the right flank nor Andre McCatty down the left as they outpaced the defenders time and time again. Evans, Romario Ward and Tevin Shaw bossed the midfield and their long diagonal passes out to the wingers constantly asked questions of the Charlie Smith defenders to which they had few answers.
It was another diagonal pass which led to the second goal of the game as Clarke controlled a beautiful pass on the right, before crossing to an unmarked McCatty at the far post. He had the easiest of headers to double his team’s lead in the 18th minute as the Charlie Smith defense was all at sea.
It was another defensive error which led to Camperdown going 3-0 up. Shamar Pryce who was having a nightmare of a game, miscontrolled a simple ball which Clarke stole off of him before dribbling a few meters and then slamming home at the near post, to set off wild celebrations from the travelling supporters.
Audible groans could be heard from the stands as the home fans, inside a packed Anthony Spauding Sports Complex, watched their team being overrun.
To make matters worse, Charlie Smith went down to 10 men when Lemmar Stewart was shown a straight red car for violent conduct in first half stoppage time. The home team had shown no real intent for the entire first half and their fans must have feared the worst when the referee blew the whistle for half time.
Much to their credit however, Charlie Smith came out a more purposeful unit in the second half and despite being down to 10 men gave a much better account of themselves. Camperdown had clearly taken their foot off the pedal and the home team took full advantage of it to work their way back into the match.
Charlie Smith managed to get on the score sheet in the 75th minute when Odane Samuels bundled home at the second attempt after a cornerkick rebounded off the crossbar. This brought the home supporters to life and feeding off the crowd, Bebeto McDonald and Patrick Sales especially, seemed to find a second wind. Four minutes after the goal McDonald latched on to a ball on the right flank and expertly beat a defender before unleashing a powerful strike but unfortunately for him it was straight at Leon Lee in the Camperdown goal.
The home fans were now buzzing as they sensed that their team could get back into the game but Camperdown slammed the door shut and ran out deserved 3-1 winners in the end.
The win took Camperdown to 7 points the same as defending champions St. Georges College who ran out 2-0 winners at Donald Quarrie. The other game in the zone between Vauxhaul and Oberlin ended 2-2.
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