Jamaica remain on course to secure their fourth straight lien on the Friendship Football Cup tomorrow, after the All Manning Cup team defeated the Trinidad and Tobago All-Schools team 2-1 in the first of two legs at Winchester Park yesterday.
Clennon netted the opening goal with just 36 seconds on the clock by slamming his right-footed effort to the far post away from custodian Kareem Gray, after he was gifted the ball following a defensive error.
Marcus Joseph came closest to levelling the score in the first period, but his cracking shot from 20 yards was acrobatically tipped over the crossbar by Oliver Walker.
Introduced into the match at the start of the second half, Spence repaid the decision in the 75th minute when he headed into an empty goal after Romane Palmer found him with an inch perfect pass from the centre of the park.
The hard-working Joseph scored his team's consolation goal in the 83rd minute by rifling home his right-footed effort from 30 yards to beat Walker.
Joseph gained possession after the All Manning Cup captain Robert Palmer lost it while dribbling mid-way his own half.
Anthony Patrick of the All Manning coaching staff conceded that the home team did not play up to scratch for the duration of the contest.
"The changes that we made in the second half kind of brought back the opponents in the game (but) never the less we came out on top," Patrick said.
The T&T All-Schools team will now turn their attention to tomorrow's clash against the All DaCosta Cup team at Jamalco. However, the visiting coach Shaun Cooper is not amused that his players will be playing against a new set of players.
"So the next team will be coming fresh and we will be going in with a couple of knocks (injuries), so we will be going in the match at a disadvantage where the conditioning is concerned," Cooper told the Observer. "We will have to go flat out from the start of the game and hope that we get a goal in the first 15 minutes to level the score and go for broke from there," he added.
Head coach of the All DaCosta team, Jeffery Hewitt, who watched yesterday's encounter, said he will not be taking the visitors lightly as they seem to be a tactically sound unit.
"They move the ball around well and especially from midfield they get players into the attack and tend to shoot at goal from distance, so we'll have to find a way to stop them from doing that," Hewitt reasoned.
A few scouts, including one from South Carolina, were on hand to witness yesterday's contest and they will be at tomorrow game as well. Jamaica have won the trophy on all three occasions since inception of the competition in 2003.
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