Former champions Ardenne High School rallied from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Denham Town High in their Group C encounter of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/LIME Manning Cup at Ardenne yesterday.

Ardenne High slipped to fifth place on eight points, the same as Tivoli Gardens, who defeated pointless Edith Dalton James 4-2.

Despite dropping two points, Denham Town continue to lead the group on 14 points, two ahead of Innswood High school, who defeated St Mary’s College 2-0.

Tarrique Campbell placed Denham Town in front when he latched onto a long pass from Daquan Black in the 53rd minute and slotted home. Kenroy Barchan made it 2-0 four minutes later when he capitalised on a goalkeeping error to head home in the 57th minute.

However, Ardenne were back in the game in the 76th minute when substitute Shamar Bennett was brought down inside the 18-yard box and he made no mistake from the spot. Bebeto Daley then ensured that Ardenne got a share of the spoils when he scored a beautiful free kick from 24 yards in time added.

Coach Junior Francis, who does duties at Ardenne, thought his team could have taken all three points, while in the same breath, expressed satisfaction with the point.

“I thought that we have been playing better than the next team from in the first half. We gave up two soft goals, but the team has a good fighting spirit and they came back and drew the game,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Meanwhile, Denham Town’s coach Earl Bennett is disappointed that they gave up a two-goal cushion.

“It is good to leave with a point, but at the same time I am a bit disappointed. I thought we should have won the game, and had we got some of our calls it might have been a different game,” he said.