Sunday, November 11, 2007

Manning Cup team is on the brink of semi-final qualification after 6-0 drubbing  of Camperdown

Behind a 5-goal performance from Alonzo Adlam, Excelsior’s Manning Cup team is one victory away from another semi-final berth after mauling Camperdown 6-0 last Wednesday.

The red and blue clad Camperdown team was beaten black and blue by the marauding Antrim aggregation and behind the skillful Adlam, the goal tally kept going yet higher until the final score line read more like a domino score than a sporting contest.

It was the second drubbing the XLCR team was inflicting on their East Kingston neighbors, as the latest 6-0 victory came hard on the heels of an earlier 7-0 undressing in the Walker Cup knock out competition.

A year after its second place finish, the team is again poised to upset the applecart. Little was expected this year from the team which was decimated by graduation, and with only one starter from last year in the current lineup.

"We are hoping to reach the quarter final and take it from there" Coach Lebert Halliman told AgeNotes in an interview earlier in the season. The usually coy Halliman was surprisingly forthcoming as he assessed his inexperienced team's chances this year.

"This is a young team so I am going to concentrate on rebuilding this year. It's almost a completely new team from last year with only one returning starter"

However the starting lineup is bolstered by the inclusion of Alozo Adlam,a recepient of one of the 32 annual scholarships sponsored by the Alumni Association is easily the team's best player.

The fortune of the team hinges on his form of as he is easily the team's best player. Although he is Jamaica national under-20l representative, last year the coach opted to bring Adlam off the bench for tactical reasons.

The team, which which sits atop  Zone F, again get to test its mettle as it faces Waterford High at Stadium East on Tusday November 13. Three Zone winners, plus second placed team with the best record, will contest the semifinals

As the Manning Cup team inches toward its conclusion, Coach Halliman's earlier prediction of a mere quater final qualification now seems misplaced.And with the team on the brink of a semifinal berth, he has cast his vision yet higher.

  A possible return visit to the final is definitely not out of the question.