Hydel High Head Coach Devon Anderson said his team’s recent setback has given them added motivation to finish off Camperdown High in their rescheduled Manning Cup game at Royal Lakes in St Catherine this afternoon.

Earlier this week, Hydel were docked three points by the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) for breaching an ineligibility rule.

ISSA’s disciplinary committee made the ruling on Tuesday that Hydel used ineligible players in their opening Manning Cup encounter of the 2023 season against Kingston College (KC) on September 12. The disciplinary committee said it found that Hydel exceeded the three “quota players” — related to fielding students who were transferred from other schools — in the match. Hydel had won the encounter 4-0, but the ruling meant KC were instead awarded the three points plus a scoreline of 3-0.

Anderson told the Jamaica Observer that Hydel have put that behind them and are ready to complete today’s fixture against Camperdown which is expected to see the St Catherine-based team moving to nine points. The match is to restart at the 70-minute marker from when the contest was called off due to bad weather with Hydel leading the contest 5-1.

“We are feeling disappointed [about the points deduction], but there is nothing that we can do about it at the moment and so we just have to put that behind us and just take every game on merit and just to remotivate the kids,” said Anderson.

“They are down and there is no doubt about it because we worked very hard to put away that [KC] team and win the game, but nevertheless it is what it is and we just have to move on from it and be ready for Camperdown,” he said.

“We want to go on and finish this game and get back our points together and see if we can get back the lead in the zone.”

Hydel are currently third in the zone on six points from three matches. KC, who have played five games, lead with a maximum 15 points. Calabar, who have played four games, are second with nine points.

They are followed by Charlie Smith, who are on six points from five matches; Camperdown three from four games; and Penwood who have no point from five games.

Only the top two teams from the zone will advance to the quarter-finals of the competition.

Anderson added that based on the strength and depth of his team, he is confident they will move onto the next phase of the competition.

“Our aim is to make it into the second round and we are confident of giving it our best shot despite of what is going on around us,” he said.

“We are just going out there against Camperdown to do what we have to do and at the end of the 90 minutes, we will come away with the three points,” the Hydel coach noted.