Ardenne High's Renaldo Davis (right) shielding the ball from Eltham High's Kemar Coleman during yesterday's ISSA'FLOW Mannign Cup match at Ardenne. The home team won 1-0. - Gladstone Taylor

Shayne Fairman, STAR Writer

Shamar Bennett scored with a spectacular 25-metre free kick yesterday to hand Ardenne High their first win in the 2015 ISSA-Flow Manning Cup football competition.

Bennett's 76th-minute strike was enough to give Ardenne a 1-0 win over Eltham High. It was Ardenne's first win from two games. They previously lost 2-0 to Innswood High.

The match was contested at the Ardenne playing field, which turned out to be in dire need of rehabilitation as the mainly dirt surface fully reflected the drought conditions the island has been experiencing.

The action switched swiftly from end to end after the opening whistle as both teams struggled to maintain possession.

Ardenne, with the home support, went closest to scoring on a number of occasions early in the match with headers going just wide and just over the cross bar.

Tactical substitutions early into the second half swung the game into Ardenne's favour, and saw them press for the win.

Eventually, substitute Bennett went for glory after a foul and got the winner for Ardenne.

"My teammates came to me and said any free kick on the right is mine. It's something I do in training, so I just went for it today and scored," he revealed following the game.

Yesterday's results

Group B

Papine 0 Hydel 1

Greater Portmore 0 Dunoon 0

Haile Selassie 4 Cumberland 0

Group C

Kingston Technical 0 Innswood 1

Ardenne 1 Eltham 0

Denham Town 0 St George's College 2

Group F

Ascot 1 Jonathan Grant 3

Norman Manley 1 Spanish Town 0

Vauxhall 2 Excelsior 0