Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

EXCELSIOR'S VALENTINO Fogo celebrated his 17th birthday with two goals to guide his school to a 5-1 thrashing of defending champions Calabar in the final of the Inter-Secondary Schools Association (ISSA)/Digicel Walker Cup yesterday at the National Stadium.

Fogo netted in the 24th and 45th minutes while Juvannie Benjamin (69th) and Neco Brett (88th), both substitutes, and Leon Powell (90th) also got on the scoresheet for the victors. Allay Cole scored for Calabar in the (59th minute).

Took control

Excelsior took control from the opening whistle when Powell's point-blank shot was specta-cularly saved by goalkeeper Cheven Powell five minutes into the first period.

A few minutes later, fleet-footed Fogo, who tormented the Calabar defenders with his quick dribbling skills and swift off-the-ball movements, came close to giving his side the lead but, with Powell at his mercy, his effort went wide of the target.

Scored goals

Fogo made up for his miss when he rose above two Calabar defenders to head home past Powell to give his team the lead halfway through the period.

Fogo scored his second goal on the stroke of half-time with a powerful point-blank left-footed shot which went like a rocket past Powell to give his team a 2-0 lead going into the break.

Cole gave Calabar a glimmer of hope 14 minutes into the second period with a spectacular 20-yard free-kick, which went like a bullet past Excelsior's Chevon Bowen.

Benjamin scored Excelsior's third goal 10 minutes later when he latched on to a pass from Fogo, then out sprinted three Calabar defenders and calmly slotted the ball home past Powell.

Brett then put the issue beyond doubt for the Mountain View-based school when he netted his team's fourth goal two minutes from time.

Some disappointment

Despite the victory, Leebert Halliman, coach of Excelsior, said the ultimate goal was to win the Manning Cup title.

"I am glad for the win, but still disappointed because the Manning Cup is the ultimate and we are not in the final and to sit and watch it is burning," said Halliman. "I think the boys did well because this is a young team and to come out today and display this type of performance is very good.

"We knew that once we went two up Calabar were going to press and we had to play for the counter and this is where we caught them napping."

Alrick Clarke, coach of Calabar, said, "This was a very poor result for us today because I think we weren't prepared mentally for this game. I think things fell apart for us in the first half and things also went bad for our defenders."