Robert Bailey, Star Writer

Former champions St George's College (StGC) booked their spot in the semi-finals of the ISSA/Gatorade/Digicel Manning Cup with a hard-fought 2-0 over arch-rivals Calabar at the Constant Spring Sports Complex yesterday.

National Under-17 representative Romario Jones (61st) and substitute Davion Kelly (90th) were the goalscorers for the Neville 'Bertis' Bell-coached StGC.

The Light Blues finished atop the standing with a perfect nine points, three ahead of Calabar. They are followed by Camperdown (three) and Penwood, who failed to register a point in the second round.

However, the game between StGC and Calabar, which was expected to be a very exciting contest, was marred by a bottle-throwing incident that caused the match to be delayed. Midway the first half, unruly spectators threw bottles at the assistant referee following the dismal of Calabar's Romario Sewell, who received a straight red card for violent conduct. The incident held up procedings for approximately 12 minutes.

The match suffered another stoppage midway the second period, as angry Calabar's supporters, who got upset with the officiating of the match, vented their anger by throwing bottles at the officials and also on the field. This led to another stoppage of the game. StGC were also reduced to 10 players in the 90th minute, this after Ricardo Henry was sent out after receiving a second yellow card.

"It is unfortunate," said Bell.

"This is second time that we played against Calabar and they got an early red card, but I didn't see what happened."

"I was also a little disappointed at the end of the game when the linesman put up the flag for a throw and the referee didn't see it and we ended up getting a red card," Bell said.

we played badly

He added: "It was a game that I didn't like at all, but I don't think we played badly. This is not schoolboy football because bottles were thrown and that should not have happened."

Bell's opposite number Marvin Tate blames his team's defeat on the poor quality of the officiating.

"It was poor because I have been coaching for over 26 years and this is the worst I have seen it at any level," said Tate. "It could not have been worse than this, and this is what I have been complaining about all season."

"It is a bit disappointing that the game had to end the way it did, but I am happy that we played well," said Tate.

In the opening match of the double-header, Camperdown edged Penwood 2-1. Oshane Williams (23rd) and Marchel Johnson (76th) were scorers for Camperdown. Clifford Shaw scored for Penwood in the 60th minute.