Keisha Hill, Staff Reporter

Group 'F' leaders St. Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) and last year's runner-ups Excelsior played to a 1-1 draw in the in the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Pepsi Digicel/ Manning Cup game at Barbican yesterday.

The first half was dismal with neither side taking possession of the ball for any decent period or seemingly making any great attempt to score.

With STATHS and Excelsior's impressive track record in the first round of the competition, their performance on the field yesterday was disappointing.

STATHS' goal came from Shevon Charlton in the 21st minute from a mêlée near the goalpost.

Excelsior equalised in the 31st minute from a corner kick taken by by striker Severo Murphy and scored by Alanzo Adlam.

In the nick of time

Dismal play continued into the second half. The only real action came in the first four minutes of the half as STATHS attempted to score from a free kick, which was caught in the nick of time by Excelsior's goalkeeper Chevon Bowen.

Keith Nichol, STATHS coach, expressed disappointment with his team's performance.

"I am not pleased with the team's performance today. The game was played like (it was of) academic interest to both teams because we have already qualified. The players did not follow instructions. Excelsior had us playing as if we were in a practice session today," he said.

He added: "They are youngsters, so probably they cannot take certain pressure or success because they have already qualified, they probably they feel like that's it. Excelsior used our game to kill us, I hope my team can lift up their game for the second round and move up a notch."

Leebert Halliman, coach of Excelsior, was also disappointed in his team's performance.

"Both teams played as if they were at a practice game. STATHS apparently wanted to keep their unbeaten record; we took the position to play and the game ended in a draw," he said.

Both teams have qualified for the second round of the competition and a shot at the Walker Cup. STATHS currently lead the group with 29 points, comfortably seven ahead of second-place Excelsior who are now on 19 points.

However, Excelsior could move closer to STATHS in the very competitive group as they have two games remaining against Trench Town and Cumberland.

Meanwhile, Waterford inched closer to a place in the second round following a 1-1 tie with Jamaica College, which were one of several schools qualifying for the Walker Cup KO. Eltham (22), who beat Kingston Technical 1-0, also qualified for the Walker Cup, while Calabar kept their hopes alive with a 4-0 thrashing of St. Catherine that pushed them to 23 points, two behind Wolmer's, who have 26 points. Calabar have three outstanding matches.

Champions Bridgeport registered the biggest winning margin yesterday, thumping Penwood 6-0.

Group B

Yesterday's Results

KC	3	D Quarrie	2
Eltham	1	KTHS	0
Group C Calabar	4	St Catherine	0
Campion	1	E Dalton	2
Group D B'port	6	Penwood	0
Cumberland	1	Vauxhall	1
Group F XLCR	1	STATHS	1
J Grant	3	Trench Town	1