Narado Brown (second left), celebrates with his teammates after scoring his first of two goals in Excelsior's 3-0 win over St. George's College in the quarter-finals of the Walker Cup competition at Ferdie Neita Park yesterday.
-Rudolph Brown photo
LeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter
THREE GOALS in the first 19 minutes of play placed Excelsior High in the semi-final of the Walker Cup, as they trounced St. George's College 3-0 at Ferdie Neita Park yesterday.
Narado Brown's brace in the 6th and 19th minutes and a well struck low-drive by Ricardo Ximines in the 16th minute sunk the 'Light Blues' in an inescapable pit.
Excelsior will meet Mona in one of the semi-finals on Saturday, November 6 after that school got past Meadowbrook 2-1 in the opening game of the double header.
Two second half goals by Marlon Walker (58th) and Damion Pink (73rd) saw the Group E leaders through. Dwayne Smith got the consolation goal for Meadowbrook via a penalty in the 80th minute.
THE DEFENDING CHAMPS
St. George's appeared daunted by the defending Manning Cup champs despite being one of the more respected teams in the competition this year. They were listless in the first half and quickly fatigued from Excelsior's physical play.
The champs, to say the least, looked just like that. They were composed, confident and always in control.
"When you are up 3-0 and you have a game on Tuesday at 1:00p.m. you have to shut it down and that's what we did," said Excelsior's coach Leebert Halliman, making reference to their second round Manning Cup game against Calabar.
Excelsior's objective was clear - come out attacking, take the lead then sit back.
"They (Excelsior) hit us quickly and they hit us hard," admitted St. George's Technical Director Neville Bell. "To give up three goals in 20 minutes is always gonna be tough. Excelsior is a tough team coached by a wonderful coach and those three goals just got us and we never recovered from that. It's the first time we have given up more than one goal in a game," he added.
MORE ASSERTIVE
St. George's looked more assertive in the second half with substitutes Kevon McBean and Raymond Thompson testing goalkeeper Damion Reid. Reid made an excellent save to keep the scoresheet clean by diving on a Dussen Palmer shot in the six-yard box.
Despite his team's great display, Halliman said he is taking no comfort in the Walker Cup success. His aim is to remain Manning Cup champs.
"We are focused on the Manning Cup, the Walker Cup is secondary. Tuesday's game is more important than today's (yesterday's)," Halliman reinforced. "We have to ensure that come Tuesday we are fresh and ready to go. Manning Cup is the competition, not Walker Cup, so we should be much more focused come Tuesday."
