Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

St. Andrew Technical's Shevon Charlton (right) is tackled by Vauxhall's Oshane Francis during the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup football match at Vauxhall High, Windward Road yesterday. STATHS won 4-0. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Defending champions Bridgeport, led by a hat-trick from Andre Clennon, whipped Ardenne High 7-1 in an Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association ISSA/Pepsi/ Digicel Manning Cup match at Waterford yesterday.

Clennon received solid support from Adrian King, who scored a double. Despite the wide margin of victory, Anthony Patrick, coach of Bridgeport, wasn't pleased with the effort.

"I am still not satisfied with the team's performance because we got this team to destroy and to score as many goals as we could, but we didn't," said Patrick.

"The important thing for us now is to continue winning and once we can do that then we should be able to go all the way," Patrick added.

In other Group D matches, Haile Selassie failed to show for their game against Dunoon, while the game between Norman Manley and Penwood was abandoned after Penwood arrived an hour after the scheduled kick-off time.

In Group C, Calabar beat Meadowbrook 5-1, Wolmers' edged St. Catherine 1-0 and it ended 1-1 between Edith Dalton James and Kingston Technical.

Meanwhile St. Andrew Technical (STATHS) registered their fifth consecutive victory in Group F, with an easy 4-0 win over hosts Vauxhall. Christopher Henderson (34th minute), Shevon Charlton (61st), Bjorn White (75th) and Akeem Simpson (77th) scored for STATHS.

Last year's beaten finalists, Excelsior, thrashed Trench Town 6-0 and Jonathan Grant stopped Cumberland 3-0 in the group's other fixtures.

STATHS in the lead

STATHS now lead the group with 15 points, followed by Excelsior 12 and Jonathan Grant six.

Keith Nichol, coach of STATHS, said: "I didn't like the first half of the game. We didn't play ball possession and they also didn't keep their shape in the period. I think that a bit of anxiety also crept in because we are on top of the zone and we beat Excelsior."

Nichol added: "I thought we played much better in the second half because we took control of the game, which resulted in us scoring three goals. I also think that if my team keeps focused on the tactical instructions that I give to them, I think we will be a force to be reckoned with in this competition."

Meanwhile Donovan Williams, the coach of Vauxhall, said: "I think that indiscipline got the better of us today. We weren't marking our opponents and on top of that we lost our cool midway in the second period when we went two goals down."

Williams added: "We just have to take it one game at a time but it is going to be very difficult for us from here on.

Today's games

Group A

Jamaica College vs Innswood

St. Mary's College vs Waterford

Tivoli vs St. Jago

Group E

Greater Portmore vs Denham Town

Pembroke Hall vs Charlie Smith

Camperdown vs Ascot