Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

THREE-TIME champions Charlie Smith defeated Kingston Technical 2-1 in their Group C Manning Cup encounter at Clan Carthy yesterday.

Andrew Phang gave Charlie Smith the lead in the fifth minute with a well-placed free kick which went straight over the head of goalkeeper Jovell Plunkett. Phang should have added a second goal five minutes later, but his close-range effort was denied by the crossbar.

Charlie Smith went on to dominate the rest of the first half, but poor finishing from the likes of Michael Russell and Kieno Reynolds was their downfall. Kingston Technical's best chance fell to Michael Francis but his free kick was well saved by custodian Dervan Brown.

Missed chances

The second half was evenly contested with both sides missing clear chances. But in the 76th minute, Gillian Pusey added Charlie Smith's second goal with a beautiful header courtesy of a corner from teammate Kenton Smith.

Nico Edwards gave Kingston Technical a glimmer of hope in the 81st minute with a spectacular long-range shot that beat goalkeeper Brown at his near post. Neville Thomas also came close to giving his team the equaliser in the dying moments but his effort went well wide of the target.

Jerome Waite, coach of Charlie Smith, said he was pleased with his team's effort.

"We created numerous chances, but we failed to put them away," Waite said. "All in all it was a very good performance by my team today," he said.