GROUP B favourites Charlie Smith High were held to a tame 0-0 draw by Vauxhall High in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/LIME Manning Cup football match at Vauxhall High School playing field, yesterday.

Despite dropping points, Charlie Smith remain at the top of the group on 10 points, while Vauxhall were claiming their second point of the tournament.

A poor playing surface robbed the game of its quality as both teams found it difficult to keep the ball on the ground.

Coach of Charlie Smith, Jerome Waite, rued the state of the pitch.

“Anyone who watched the game would see that it was really a scrappy game in that the field was not ready. If we really want to see schoolboy football improve we will have to get good playing surfaces,” he told reporters.

That aside, Waite believed his team gave a “spirited performance”, despite playing without five of their top players who were out ill and or injured, including talisman Bebeto McDonald.

Meanwhile, Keon Broderick, who coaches the Vauxhall team, expressed satisfaction with the point.

“We have some important players out and the players who went out on the field today (yesterday) represented us well. I am satisfied…I am not totally happy,” he declared.

The game started at a fair pace with ‘Charlie’ forcing attack through Kimani Arbouine and Chevon Crooks, who popped up on numerous occasions, but failed to capitalise.

The second half saw a bit more action as both goalkeepers were called upon to make some crucial saves, more so Charlie Smith’s custodian Paul Morgan, who came up with a brilliant save in the 57th minute to parry a free kick from Emello Rousseau.

Morgan was at his best again, shortly afterwards, this time denying Akeem Whyte as he tipped the ball over the crossbar.