St Catherine and Calabar in action.
McNamee Sports Media
Kingston College embodied the spirit of their time-honoured motto, “The brave may fall but never yield,” as they came from behind to defeat Wolmer’s Boys 3-1 in their Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup Group three encounter at Stadium East on Tuesday.
Despite falling behind early to Christano Myers’ second-minute own goal, the “Purples” roared back with resilience through strikes from Matrim Martin (75th), Shareef Ricketts (77th), and Deshawn Byfield (84th) to make it two wins on the trot in the Round of 16 and clinch a coveted spot in the quarterfinals.
They now sit comfortably atop the group of six points, three ahead of Hydel, who edged St Andrew Technical (STATHS) 1-0 in the other group contest. STATHS and Wolmer’s Boys have one point each heading into Friday’s final round of matches.
Winning coach Vassell Reynolds was pleased with the grit and determination displayed by his team.
“Winning our first two games was always part of the plan. We really wanted to lift our standard of play for this round because we knew it would have been more challenging, so I asked the boys for improvements because this is what is required, and I thought they did that in these two games so far,” Reynolds said in a post-game interview.
“Even though we conceded early today, our performance in the second half shows that we have some grit and we have to be able to hang in there and fight, and in the final analysis, the fitness showed, and I thought we did very well in the last 25 minutes of this encounter,” he added.
Wolmer’s Boys started well and grabbed the early ascendancy when a long ball into the 18-yard box was turned in by Kingston College’s defender, Myers.
For Kingston College, it was a moment that called for grit, and they responded without hesitation.
Instead of letting the early goal unsettle them, the North Street boys went on the probe for the equaliser and had a few half chances from which they could have capitalised, but a lack of composure proved their undoing.
The second half was more of the same, as Kingston College, fuelled by the words “never yield,” applied consistent pressure with renewed energy, and they inevitably pulled level in the 75th when Martin tapped home on the second attempt after Wolmer’s goalkeeper Yuri Dryden’s initial save.
That goal shifted the momentum firmly in Kingston College’s favour, and soon they found the lead when Ricketts converted from the penalty spot to send their supporters into a frenzy.
With the writing on the wall for Wolmer’s, who had players forced off with injuries, Kingston College’s third goal was the basically statement, as Byfield fired in his 20th goal of the season after Dryden failed to gather the ball cleanly from Ricketts’ initial attempt.
Despite the loss, Jerome Waite believed his Wolmer’s Boys team gave its best.
“I think they tried their best but at this level you know they are accustomed to errors and a couple of errors cost us as they allowed KC back into the game and they went with the momentum. But we still have another game to play and the most important thing is to see how best we can get back some of these players that came off injured,” Waite said.
Tuesday’s results
Kingston College 3, Wolmer’s Boys 1
Hydel 1, STATHS 0
Mona 2, Campion College 1
St Catherine 3, Calabar 1
Eltham 3, Jonathan Grant 0
St George’s College 1, St Jago 0
Jamaica College 5, Charlie Smith 0
Excelsior 2, Tivoli Gardens 0
Sherdon Cowan is a five-time award-winning journalist with 10 years' experience covering sports.
Roma 0-2 Atalanta: De Roon and Zaniolo make it eight Serie A wins in a row
Nicolo Zaniolo scored against his former side as Atalanta defeated Roma 2-0 at Stadio Olimpico on Monday to make it eight Serie A wins in a row and move within one point of leaders Napoli.
Marten de Roon opened the scoring in the 69th minute with a shot from the edge of the box that heavily deflected in off Zeki Celik, before substitute Zaniolo sealed the points in the final minute with a glancing header.
Claudio Ranieri was taking charge of Roma on home soil for the first time since returning for a third spell in charge and saw his side start brightly, with Leandro Paredes testing Marco Carnesecchi and Manu Kone firing just wide.
Atalanta had an Ademola Lookman goal ruled out for offside before half-time as they started to assert a little more authority on the game.
Artem Dovbyk was next to go close for Roma, forcing Carnesecchi into a good save, but Atalanta captain De Roon found the breakthrough at the other end when his deflected shot wrong-footed Mile Svilar.
Zaniolo then got his head to Juan Cuadrado's corner for Atalanta's second, which he did not hold back on celebrating with the travelling fans, as 15th-placed Roma were condemned to a fourth league loss in a row for the first time in 16 years.
EIGHT IN A ROW! #RomaAtalanta pic.twitter.com/8UQPlAsiXf
— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) December 2, 2024
Data Debrief: Game goes way of the form book
This is only the second time Atalanta have ever won eight Serie A matches in a row, having previously done so between February and July 2020.
Roma's form could not be any more contrasting, as they have lost four on the spin in the league for the first time since 2008 under Luciano Spalletti.
I Giallorossi have now picked up just one point from their past four Serie A fixtures against Atalanta, losing four and drawing one of those encounters.
Wright-Phillips backs Man City to turn things around
Shaun Wright-Phillips has backed Manchester City to turn their form around and refused to rule them out of the Premier League title race.
City were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, with Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah getting the goals for the rampant Reds.
Pep Guardiola's team are winless in seven games in all competitions and have now lost their last five league matches.
Sunday's defeat left them 11 points behind Liverpool after 13 games, and their title hopes are dangling by a thread. Indeed, the Opta supercomputer gives City just a 4.3% chance of retaining the title.
But former City winger Wright-Phillips thinks his old club are still in with a chance, if they rediscover their "addiction to winning".
He told Stats Perform: "I'm very confident [in Man City]. I've been lucky enough to have been around the pre-season camps over the last two years and seen the mentality of not only the players but the manager, the coaching staff, and even the staff behind the scenes.
"They've set such high standards for themselves in terms of what they've achieved over the last four years that any dip feels like something is really wrong. But a lot of the players, like some in other teams, didn't have a full pre-season and are still trying to get minutes under their belts and get fit.
"Pep rarely makes excuses. He deals with the hand he's got and tries to find solutions. But with players coming back into the fold, like Kevin De Bruyne getting minutes and Jeremy Doku coming on to liven up the game, you can see the threats are still there.
"Chances will come. And with a man like Erling Haaland up front, I don't think they’ll have much of a problem.
"It's just about getting that first win, regaining that feeling, hunger, and addiction to winning. Once they do, I think they'll be fine."
Guardiola faced chants of "getting sacked in the morning" from the Liverpool fans on Sunday, though smiled his way through it before holding up six fingers, representing his six Premier League titles.
He also did the same towards the travelling City fans at the end of the match.
"I think it's brilliant," said Wright-Phillips. "Things like that are good for the game. It's not him being arrogant, and it's not Liverpool fans being a nuisance.
"I've played at Anfield, and it's a daunting ground to go to, but I've always had a laugh with the fans about what they say.
"If I was on the bench, I'd turn around and just laugh at it. They have good banter, and as soon as Pep responded, they laughed, and it kind of went away.
"It shows there's mutual respect. There's not much more they could have sung about Pep apart from something funny because what he’s achieved within the game — period, not just in the Premier League — is phenomenal."
City host Nottingham Forest in their next Premier League game on Wednesday.
Kelly and Kirby ruled out of England friendly with Switzerland
Chloe Kelly and Fran Kirby will miss England's friendly with Switzerland on Tuesday, manager Sarina Wiegman has confirmed.
Forward Kelly will be absent due to concussion protocols, while midfielder Kirby is absent with a calf problem.
Both players were brought on as substitutes in England's goalless draw with the United States at Wembley on Saturday.
Speaking ahead of the showdown with Switzerland at Bramall Lane, Wiegman revealed she intends to rotate her side.
Millie Bright, an unused substitute last time out, is one of those who will get game time in Sheffield.
"It was a hard decision," Wiegman told BBC Sport on her decision not to use Brighton against USA.
"We've played four defenders the most in the last period so I chose to balance it out against USA.
"Of course, that's very hard for Millie. Against Switzerland she will play and I'm happy that she is fit and can take that opportunity."
Last time the #Lionesses played at Bramall Lane!
Sealing our spot in the #WEURO2022 FINAL pic.twitter.com/ZWf0OX4ykl
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) December 2, 2024
England are unbeaten in 11 previous meetings with Switzerland, winning all but one of those.
The Lionesses have only faced Finland (13 times) and Northern Ireland (12 times) more often without ever losing in their history.
However, Wiegman is expecting a difficult contest against a side ranked 25th in the world – some 23 places below England.
"I think they will be hard to break down," Wiegman said. "They play in a really compact way but are not scared to get in behind quickly. We have warned about those situations."
This will be England's fourth game at Bramall Lane, having won each of the previous three by an aggregate score of 11-0.
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