"As you see how the game progressed, we created numerous [chances]. We all missed a penalty,” he added. "But let me say, we are at a stage of the competition where nothing is going to come easy. Nothing at all."

Meanwhile, losing coach Alex Thomas thought his team dropped their heads the moment Charlie Smith pulled level and didn’t show enough fight.

"We went up 1-0 but the concentration level in the second half just went down," Thomas pointed out.

"We never picked it up, the energy level. Charlie Smith came at us and they did what they needed to do to win the game," said Thomas.

In the feature encounter, JC made early inroads into the Excelsior backline and it was no surprise when they took the lead in the 15th minute courtesy of Jamoy Dennis.

Kimarly Scott pulled Excelsior level on the stroke of halftime, scoring in the 45+3 minute. It was his 17th goal of the season and puts him third in the Golden Boot race behind Deshawn Byfield of KC with 19 and Sean Leighton of Mona on 23.

Both Byfield and Leighton are out of the Manning Cup, so Scott has a glorious chance of topping the leading marksman race as he has at least two more games but could play four more if his team reaches the final.

Duwayne Burger, formerly of KC, found the clincher for JC chesting home Jamone Lyle’s cross at the near post in the 88th minute.

JC, Charlie, Vauxhall and Eltham kick off Manning Cup quarterfinals with wins

Jamaica Observer | 2025-12-07 | Original Article