KC outclass St George’s

Kingston College eased past North Street rivals St George’s College in the second round of the ISSA Manning Cup at Stadium East yesterday.

With the win KC remained perfect atop Group C with maximum nine points after three matches, with 17 goals for and none against.

St George’s were reduced to 10 men four minutes from time when captain Kevaughn Brown was shown a second yellow.

However, that was after goals from Shareef Ricketts (45th) Deshawn Byfield (46th) and Zaire Douse (68th) put the Jermaine Miller-coached school in a commanding position against their arch rivals.

Miller was left a happy man at the final whistle after he made numerous changes to the team that won the Walker Cup last week and still got a high quality performance from his team.

“I thought it was a very good performance from the lads. We rotated seven players from our last game against Mona and to see the lads come out and perform this well, I am very, very pleased,” he commented.

KC took time to get into their stride, but when Byfield received a pass from Ryland Fray-Campbell and was thwarted by goalkeeper Gian Singh after 15 minutes, the team clicked into gear.

Moments later Shareef Ricketts came close but his shot was deflected just wide for a corner.

St George’s also had their chances. The best came when Jahwah Bailey’s terrific shot was parried wide by goalkeeper Tahir Barnett.

The ‘Purples’ broke the deadlock on 45 minutes when Singh failed to handle Fray-Campbell’s shot and Ricketts was first to the loose ball and he slotted home the opener.

There was more bad news for St George’s as Singh was injured in a collision with Ricketts and had to be substituted. He was later hospitalised with a suspected broken collar bone.

A minute into the second half KC doubled their lead when Byfield raced through and fired across goalkeeper substitute goalkeeper Jaiden Watson, to make it 2-0.

Douse made it 3-0, with what has become his trademark, a spectacular shot from the edge of the box.

Four minutes before the end, St George’s Brown received his second yellow and was ejected.

KC are three points clear of St Andrew Technical in second, while St George’s and Tivoli hold third and fourth spots, respectively, on three points each.

St George’s coach Andrew Price said they did well to contain KC for 43 minutes, but that after Singh got injured it dampened the players’ spirit.

“They were very concerned about him (Singh) because he had to be transported to the University Hospital of the West Indies with a suspected injured collar bone.

“After that the team really dropped their heads and the more experienced KC carried the fight to us, “ he stated.

In another match played yesterday national Under-20 player Sean Leighton scored a hat-trick to lead former champions Mona High to an emphatic 8-1 thrashing of Hillel High.