Left: Noel Mais of Kingston College, Right: Bridgeport High's Adoah Nickle

The battle for the 2008 ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup title will heat up this afternoon when the second round kicks off with a Group One double-header at the Constant Spring Complex.

In the opening match at 1 p.m. Wolmer's Boys will face Norman Manley and two hours later, at 3 .p.m. Bridgeport High oppose Kingston College.

The second round will be played in three groups of four teams each. The Group Two teams are Calabar High, Excelsior High, Tivoli Comprehensive and St. Andrew Technical. Group Three: Jamaica College, Eltham High, Waterford High and St George's College.

Today's matches should be very competitive. Wolmer's who were narrowly edged out of group honours in the preliminary round by Jamaica College (JC), will seek to shrug of their tag of under- achievers over the past five seasons when they go up against a sturdy Norman Manley team. KC who topped their preliminary round group, but lost miserably to JC in the Walker Cup quarter-finals will face-off against a Bridgeport team which has made it to the final four of the competition for the past three seasons.

In the first encounter, Wolmer's who, given their line-up of current and former national youth representatives, including defenders Ashani Fairlough, Akeem Brown, Peter Beckford, and striker Christopher Waugh, who is the competition's joint second leading goalscorer with 15 goals, will start slight favourites against Norman Manley. Norman Manley without long-serving coach Alrick Clarke (now in charge of Calabar), have, however, surprised many in reaching this far in the competition.

"The team is in good nick, and I expect them to go out there, and give a good account of themselves," said Wolmer's coach, Michael Francis, who will be watching the game from the stands after he was banned for one-match for forfeiting his team's final group game against JC, which ended in chaos after several crowd invasions. "They have worked well leading up to tomorrow's (game) and it is just for them to continue the good work," he added.

In the second match-up, KC, who began the season as one of the favourites for top honours, will have to dig deep to outperform Bridgeport, who having surrendered preliminary round group honours to rivals Eltham, are hurting. KC's attacks will be led by MacKaulay Tulloch one of the most deadly strikers in the Manning Cup competition.

The second round will continue tomorrow with another double-header at Constant Spring. In tomorrow's matches, Tivoli, who finished second to Norman Manley in the preliminaries, will go up against Walker Cup finalists, Calabar at 1:00 p.m., while St Andrew Technical, who finished second to KC, will play Excelsior, the other Walker Cup finalists. The top team in each group along with the best second place team will advance to the semi-finals.

All matches in the second round will be played at Constant Spring at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m, respectively.