KINGSTON, Jamaica – St Jago High School kept their hopes alive in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup competition with a big 5-1 win over Holy Trinity at the Courtney Walsh Oval at Excelsior High school last Friday.

The third win of the season has kept the Monk Street team in with a shot at claiming one of the non-automatic qualifying spots in the second round of the competition, even as they chase the top two teams in the group, Jamaica College and St Catherine High.

A hat-trick from Marcus Tudor and one each from Jayden Jones and Jaedee Mitchel, helped St Jago to their biggest win of the season and it left head coach Garnett Lawrence beaming.

“I was really elated by the first half. The second half was nothing to speak about, but they went in there feeling hungry,” he said.

After a dominant first half performance which saw them lead 4-1 at the break, St Jago took their feet off the pedal in the second half, which was a concern for Lawrence.

“We played a little bit more disciplined in the first half than in the second half and the goals came flooding in the first half,” he said.

“We played for sixty minutes today, but the competition is long, so we want to go a little bit longer,” he added.

He suggested that the lack of experience is showing in the team, but believes that it is not beyond his team to advance to the next round.

“St Jago is a good team, but with the youthfulness and a little bit of inexperience, we have to be getting at them a lot, but I know that as long as they get it right, they are going to continue to win,” he said.

They will next play joint group leaders St Catherine High in what is another must-win game if they are to secure enough points to guarantee that their season extends beyond October.

Lawrence acknowledges, however, that it will be a tough task against the reigning Walker Cup champions.

“We have a derby next, and we are looking forward to it,” he said.

“After learning a lot from them, they have a lot of ball handlers, so we have to nullify their ball handlers, and, also, we have to nullify the wings, so we have to contain that as well and we have to press and force ourselves to go forward,” he added.

The hat-trick hero Tudor is from Guyana and Lawrence says that both Tudor and Brandon Solomon, the other Guyanese in the squad, are enjoying their time playing in the Manning Cup.

“It’s his second game and he has scored four goals in two games, so we are proud of him. He is loving it, they are both loving it,” he said.

St Jago will take on St Catherine High at the Spanish Town Prison Oval starting at 3:30pm on Tuesday October 11.