Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

Defender Romaine Lewis of Edith Dalton James High (left) blocking the progress of Atiba Morgan of Wolmer's Boys during yesterday's Manning Cup match at Heroes Circle. Wolmer's won 3-0. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

In a one-sided contest, Wolmer's defeated Edith Dalton James 3-0 in their opening ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup football match at Heroes Circle yesterday.

The winners, who had to wait until well into the second half before they got their first goal, saw Ashani Fairclough (64th), Jevaughn Beckford (84th) and substitute Kemar Morgan (89th) getting on the score sheet.

Missed chances

All three goals came after several missed chances by Wolmer's in the first half.

Atiba Morgan, André Sharpe, Mikhail Hewitt and Christopher Waugh were off target throughout the game with all of their shots ending up high and wide of the target.

Waugh missed two of the easiest chances which came within two minutes of each other. On both occasions, he fired high and wide from inside the 18-yard box.

Wolmer's also created several chances in the second half. They finally took the lead when Fairclough picked up a pass from a 30-yard free kick, which caught the Edith Dalton James defenders napping and made no mistake from close range.

The other two goals came from loose balls in the 18-yard-box.

Wolmer's coach Michael Francis admitted it was not the best of games, but was willing to give his players time to improve.

"It's one of those games ... the first game, a little bit shaky in terms of how we wanted to play," he said while adding that "nobody wanted to make a mistake"

Francis, however, welcomed the win: "All in all, I am happy with the three points, so basically we have to now build on that and move forward.

Edith Dalton James' coach Pierre Williams said he was not ready to speak to the media.

Two scheduled games, Donald Quarrie against Jose Marti and Excelsior versus Cumberland, were not played. Jose Marti turned up without ID cards while Cumberland reported 5:00 p.m., ninety minutes late for their game which was scheduled to kick off 3:30 p.m.

Group B

Kingston High 0 Eltham 5

Group C

KTHS 0 Calabar 4

Wolmer's 3 Edith Dalton 0

Group D

St. George's 2 Ardenne 1

Dunoon 0 Penwood 0

Group F

STATHS 2 Trench Town 0