Despite missing six regular starters, defending champion St George’s College turned back neighbours Holy Trinity 2-0 to take sole leadership of Group J in second round action of the ISSA Digicel/Gatorade Manning Cup at Constant Spring yesterday.

Second-half goals from Amoy Brown and Kendon Anderson gave the Neville ‘Bertis’ Bell-coached team their first to win in the group.

St George’s presently lead the points standings with three, one ahead of Charlie Smith, who drew 0-0 with Camperdown in the day’s other game.

Camperdown and Holy Trinity have one point each, although Camperdown have played only once, just the same as St George’s.

In the feature game, Charlie Smith had the better of the chances but failed to convert and had to settle for the point.

Raylon Paisley had the first real opportunity of the game but his lob of goalkeeper Reinford Howell went wide of the target eight minutes into the contest.

Tevin Garnett had a glorious opportunity to give Camperdown the lead just before the break, but he failed to beat Howell from 12 yards with the custodian at his mercy.

After the break, Shamal Walsh set up Lennox Russell, but he could not beat Howell even with two bites at the cherry and the goalkeeper out of position.

Midway the second-half, Russell had another great chance after Roger Bucknor hit the upright from a free-kick and the ball fell to him at point-blank range, but he could not keep his header on the frame and the chance went abegging.

Charlie Smith coach, Jerome Waite, was very disappointed with the result and has already called the curtains on his team’s season.

“Today Charlie Smith created numerous chances, but faulty execution let us down… so this is most definitely the end of the road for us, because the most points we can get are five, and I don’t think that will be enough,” he said.

His counterpart, Christopher Bender, said a point in their opening second-round game is good and he expects his team to be the main challenger for the group along with St George’s.

“With all that has happened to us recently, I was not too disappointed with the performance… but I think this was a fair result,” he said.

In the opener, St George’s who were missing most of their regular starters due to national Under-20 duties, took almost an hour to break down a lively Holy Trinity side.

Eleven minutes into the second-half, Brown broke the deadlock for the North Street-based school, then in the 76 minute Anderson latched on to a well measured pass from Cordel Benbow, on the counter, and lifted the ball over the advancing Sean Dean Daley for St George’s second goal.

St George’s assistant coach, Marcel Gayle, said the game was a test of his team’s depth and believes the players, some of whom were playing for the first time, did well.

“These guys have been working all summer, they are a part of the squad so they knew that at this time those players would have been absent… but today we got three points and scored two goals so we can only get better from here,” he noted.

Holy Trinity coach, Devon Anderson, said the opening goal knocked the wind out of his side and they never recovered.

“We were passing the ball well, but we just didn’t put away our chances in the first-half,” he mourned.

The competition continues this afternoon with action in Group K at the Constant Spring Complex.

In the curtain-raiser at 1:00 pm, Bridgeport will take on Innswood, while Norman Manley meet Wolmer’s in the feature game starting at 3:00 pm.