Haile Selassie High School Head Coach Linval Dixon says the team has been moving from strength to strength in this year’s ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup competition after they recorded their fourth-straight victory in Group C on Friday.

Haile Selassie, who reached the quarter-finals of last year’s tournament, recorded a 7-1 victory over Denham Town at the Edward Seaga Sports Complex.

They were led to victory by a hat-trick from Jahwan Payne in the third, 13th and 51st minutes of the game. He received support from Joshua Dewar, who netted a brace in the 69th and 90th minutes.

Tajay Allwood (27th), and Kishawn Valentine (84th) were the other scorers for Haile Selassie. Ajani Lewis scored the consolation goal for Denham Town in the 78th minute.

Dixon, in his second year with the team, is pleased with the performance because they played well in wet conditions.

“It was a good game for us because I like how we performed as a team,” Dixon said. “It was a rainy game and I thought we managed it quite well and to score seven goals in a game, it really says something good about us.

“I think that after winning four games and scoring a lot of goals, that said a lot about the team that we are on the right path and we just are hoping to continue on this path for the remainder of this round,” Dixon said.

Haile Selassie led 2-0 after just 13 minutes, with Payne scoring a curling effort after three minutes into the match.

Payne, who tormented the Denham Town defenders with swift dribbling skills and clever off-the-ball movement, doubled his team’s lead 10 minutes later when he arrived at the back post to tap in from close range. The match was then halted for more than 45 minutes because of rainfall.

When it resumed, Selassie picked up where they left off dominating the remainder of the first period, with Allwood scoring a thunderbolt shot to make it three for his team at half-time.

Payne returned six minutes into the second half to complete his hat-trick as Haile Selassie romped to a comfortable victory in the match.

Friday results

Jonathan Grant 2 Eltham 1

Ardenne vs Pembroke rained out after 20 minutes

Saturday’s games

Calabar vs Camperdown @ Calabar

Hydel vs Charlie Smith @ Royal Lakes

Kingston College vs Penwood Stadium @ Stadium East

Edith Dalton James vs Holy Trinity @ Edith Dalton James

Mona vs St Catherine @ Mona

St Mary’s College vs Norman Manley @ St Mary’s College

All matches start at 3:30 pm.