Kingston College (KC) and Wolmer’s Boys battled to a 1-1 scoreline, while Camperdown High whipped Charlie Smith 4-0 in Group G action of the ISSA Digicel Manning Cup at the Stadium East field yesterday.

Both KC and Wolmer’s inched to four points in the quarter-final phase with the “Purples” on top with a superior goal difference, while Camperdown High moved into third spot with three points. Charlie Smith High have been officially eliminated from the competition siting at the bottom without a point.

The feature encounter of the double-header, played in front of a packed house, saw the defending champion KC settling quickly and deservedly took the lead when Dwayne “Busy” Atkinson netted in the 17th minute, reacting quickest to a free-kick that was spilled by goalkeeper Densil Smith.

Wolmer’s Boys, who were outplayed in the first half, stepped up to the plate in the second period and were justly rewarded when the lively Ronaldo Webster netted in 80th minute after prolonged probing by his team.

KC got a few look-ins close to the end of the game and should have won when Ronald Robinson missed a right-sided cross by Atkinson that sailed across the goal mouth in the dying seconds.

All in all, it was a fair result in a hard-fought and exciting encounter that left both teams still with some work in making the semi-finals.

KC are now set to play Camperdown, while Wolmer’s appeared to have the easier task in playing a Charlie Smith team out of contention in the next round of matches.

Alex Thomas, head coach of Wolmer’s Boys, said his team has been leaving it late to score in games.

“We have been doing it all season… we know we gonna get back because these guys have fight in them. We played with a makeshift backline and I praised them because our main defender got sick with dengue fever and they understood what the task was and they stood up and did well and hats off to them,” said Thomas.

Despite Charlie Smith having nothing to play for except pride, Thomas will not be taking them lightly.

“The weaker team, yes, but at the end of the day, you can’t take a team lightly because you never know. This is schoolboy football and we have to prepare for them mentally and physically after a hard fought game like this,” Thomas noted.

Meanwhile, KC failed to win for the first time this season and head coach Ludlow Bernard was a bit disappointed with how they conceded.

“It was a tough draw…I was always confident of my defence and probably wasn’t looking for a goal like that to be conceded, but it happens, (because) these are schoolboys we dealing with,” said Bernard.

“We gave up too much possession of the ball and allowed Wolmer’s to handle the ball, but again they have the better ball handlers and we knew what we were up against and we knew what our game plan had to be and it worked to some extent,” he added.

In the curtain-raiser, Camperdown High gave themselves a glimmer of hope with a thumping 4-0 win over Charlie Smith High.

Shaquille Bradford scored a hat-trick in the 45th, 66th and 83rd minutes, while Shawn Daley had opened the floodgates in minute 26.

It was a comfortable win for Camperdown, setting the stage for an epic battle with KC in the final group game.

The competition continues today with another double-header at Stadium East. In the first encounter, Jamaica College (JC) take on Excelsior High at 2:00 pm before St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) play St George’s College (STGC) at 4:00 pm.

STATHS lead Group H with three points with both JC and St George’s College sitting on one point each. Excelsior High are pointless.

In the first round, STATHS whipped Excelsior High 4-0, while JC and STGC played to a 1-1 draw.