TWO red cards highlighted yesterday’s start of the 2015 Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Flow Manning Cup season as Wolmer’s Boys’ clipped St Jago 1-0 at Heroes Circle.

Alphanso Gooden found the all-important strike in the 54th minute of the bustling encounter which saw five cards being dished out by referee Everton Barrett. Wolmer’s are second in Group E with an inferior goal-difference behind Mona High, who blanked Kingston High 3-0 in the other fixture.

Former national Under-17 representative and Calabar captain Jahwahni Hinds of Wolmer’s and Kirk Samuda of St Jago saw straight red cards for violent conduct in the 28th minute of the game. Wolmer’s custodian Shamar Jemison and St Jago’s Herwin Parker and Jovan Thomas were also cautioned.

Wolmer’s dominated the early exchanges and went probing for an early goal, as St Jago were slow into their stride. The maroon and gold clad team, led by Gooden in attack, created numerous chances as the former Trench Town High School standout exhibited a level of dexterity which caused problems for the opposing defence.

They were, however, denied by the scrambling St Jago backline and unfortunately went to the break goal-less. The score line remained the same close to the hour mark, before Gooden was left unmarked inside the area and he punished St Jago for the error when he connected from a Prince McGilvery free kick.

The Monk Street-based St Jago went on the hunt for the equaliser, but were hapless in their efforts and later surrendered to defeat.

Winning coach Vassel Reynolds was pleased that his unit came away with the three points.

“We have a mixture of experience and youngsters, but having said that I don’t think it was a bad performance — all we needed was a good start, there were some forced changes that we had to make due to injuries, but overall I’m pretty satisfied. As usual we got a few chances that we didn’t capitalise on and that is something we have to work on in the near future,” he told journalists in a post-match interview.

His counterpart Glen Laing believed his team performed below expectation and will bounce back from the defeat.

“It was close; we lost by one goal and it is not the start that we wanted, but we had some registration problems which we hope to rectify by the next game and put in a better performance. Because I know that we can play alot better than we did today (yesterday), and I am confident that we can bounce back,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Meanwhile, Tivoli Gardens High assumed pole position in Group A with a 3-1 win over St Catherine, ahead of champions Jamaica College and Calabar who played out a 2-2 score line in the competition’s curtain-raiser at Catherine Hall Sports Complex. St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) head Group D after blanking Penwood High 3-0, while Holy Trinity were 1-0 winners over St Mary’s College.

Over in Group G, Jose Marti eased past Waterford 2-0, while Kingston College got by Camperdown High 2-1 in the day’s late fixture at Harbour View Mini-stadium.