DEVON Anderson, coach of last season’s finalists Hydel, says the sloppy conditions underfoot prevented his team from collecting all three points against Excelsior in their opening round game in Group B of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup quarter-finals at Stadium East on Saturday.

The teams played out an exciting 1-1 draw in heavy rain and under dark clouds. Kimarly Scott opened the scoring for Excelsior while D’Sean Henry netted the equaliser for Hydel.

St Catherine, who defeated Campion College 2-0 in their opening match in the group on Friday, lead the standings with three points, ahead of Excelsior and Hydel both with one point each. Campion College follows with zero.

Anderson said his team created enough chances to win the match but their attackers failed to convert them.

“I am not pleased with the outcome but the playing surface was horrible because of the heavy rain,” he said. “We just have to take the one point and move on to our next game on Tuesday. I think we should have won this game, because we got numerous chances, but we just failed to put them away. The conditions also contributed to us not finishing some of those chances against this Excelsior team.”

Hydel, who are aiming to win the Manning Cup title for the first time in the school’s history, will face St Catherine in their next game on Tuesday at Spanish Town Prison Oval in St Catherine at 3:00 pm. Excelsior will take on Campion College in the other group match at Stadium East at 2:00 pm.

Anderson says while there is not much time to prepare for Tuesday’s game, he remains upbeat about his team’s chances.

“Our opponents have been resting after their game on Friday but we just have to take it one game at a time and try to improve on this performance against St Catherine,” he said. “Every game is a tough game in this round so we just have to go out there and play our type of football. Once we do that, I know we can come away with a positive result on Tuesday.”

ANDERSON…I am not pleased with the outcome but the playing surface was horrible because of the heavy rain (Observer file)