Eltham's Dwayne Williams (left) celebrates with teammates after scoring his team's lone goal in their 1-0 win over Waterford High in their second-round ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup clash at the Spanish Town Prison Oval yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn

Eltham High and Charlie Smith High improved their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals of the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup after recording 1-0 and 2-0 wins over Waterford and St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS), respectively, in second round action at the Spanish Town Prison Oval yesterday.

Eltham, who are more renowned for their exploits in ISSA cricket competitions, got the better of their opponents courtesy of a 75th strike from midfielder Dwayne Williams.

penalty

Charlie Smith, in the meantime, got their victory on a penalty from outstanding midfielder Javoni Simms in the 33rd minute, and Reshaun Reynolds three minutes later.

The result propelled Eltham, who drew 1-1 with STATHS in their first game of the round robin group, to the top of Group One with four points, one more than Charlie Smith, who lost 1-0 to Waterford in their opener.

The winners of the three second-round groups, plus the best second place team will advance to the semi-finals.

"It was a gritty Eltham High performance," said Eltham's assistant coach Granville Holmes.

"Our future and season depended on us getting a positive result, and the players rose to the occasion."

After a relatively quiet and equal first half, both Waterford and Eltham tried to up the tempo in the second, however, it was not until Waterford brought on the diminutive and wily, midfielder Theodore Thomas in the 62nd minute that the game began to heat up.

However, with Waterford in the ascendancy, and putting Eltham under some amount of pressure, they received a setback when one of their defenders, Andre Johnson, was red-carded for a dangerous tackle in the 72nd minute.

This opened the door for Eltham to rebound, and that they did, as with Waterford's defenders unsettled, Williams received a loose ball in the middle of the park, and with goalkeeper Reshawn Dunn off his line, he released a thunder of a shot, which found back of the net.

"The team did not play bad, we were just unfortunate to get a red card, which affected the team," said Waterford coach Lloyd Coke.

Earlier in the day, Charlie Smith played a disciplined game, which had STATHS on the back foot for the most part, and in the end came out deserving winners.

"It was a game of two different halves. We started slowly, but after we got into our own, we played some good football, and got the goals. We then eased back in the second half, and held on for the win," said Charlie Smith coach Jerome Waite.