Cornwall-Clarendon clash headlines today’s daCosta Cup quarter-finals

Western Bureau:

With 21 ISSA/daCosta Cup football titles between them, the ‘Clash of the CCs’ – Cornwall College and Clarendon College – headlines today’s quarter-final double-header where four former champions will be in action at the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex, in Santa Cruz. Kick-off will be at 1 p.m.

An in-form Cornwall who shrugged off a slow start to the season are coming into the match off the back of a four-game win streak. They are far from being the free-scoring team of the recent past with only 13 goals from seven games, but the 12-time champions will be depending on their now settled defence coming into the game with five clean sheets on the bounce.

Assistant coach of Cornwall, Warren Barrett, admitted that the clash with Clarendon has always been a tough one.

“Once you get into the quarter-finals that is where the real competition starts, so we know it won’t be easy. We know Clarendon always possess good players at this level, so we are expecting a tough game,” Barrett said.

Barrett outlined that it is hard to say whether the game will live up to the expectations given it’s a young squad in a pandemic year but added they are prepared in the best way possible as anything can happen.

PREPARED TO PLAY

“It’s hard to say, all we can do is to prepare the boys to play. We are also a team that loves to possess the ball, pass it around and be patient until we see the opening we try to attack those spaces,” Barrett said.

“I can’t say for sure what will happen. It could be a high-scoring game, an exciting one and also could be a dull one. All I can say is that the boys are prepared, so hopefully they can go into the encounter and play with confidence and intensity. Hopefully, we can get a positive result,” he added.

Lenworth ‘Lenny’ Hyde, coach of Clarendon, believes his team chemistry is coming together at the right time and says he will not be taking Cornwall lightly.

Defending champions Clarendon, who shrugged off challenges from Edwin Allen High and Glenmuir High in high-pressure games to get to the quarter-finals, will be banking on their attacking prowess where they have averaged close to three goals a game from their six matches in the first round.

“We have been preparing for the past few days and will be looking for a good result. We have been improving with each game that we play this season and we are seeing that chemistry building,” Hyde said.

“We are not taking them lightly, we know that Cornwall always come good. We are going out there to play some good football, our style of football. This is the quarter-finals so we just want the boys to go out there and express themselves on the field and also to have fun,” he added.

In the second game at 3 p.m., Garvey Maceo High’s perfect run in the competition will be put to the test when they face Frome Technical High.

Today’s games

1 p.m: STETHS vs St Thomas Tech – York Oval

1 p.m: Manchester vs McGrath – Drax Hall 3 p.m: William Knibb vs Edwin Allen – Green Pond 3 p.m: Manning’s vs Vere – Manchester

3 p.m: Happy Grove vs Munro College – York Oval 3 p.m: Dinthill vs Christiana – Drax Hall