Photo: Hydel’s Kevin Wright protects the ball from KC’s Dashaun Donaldson in their Manning Cup encounter at the Spanish Town Prison Oval. Hydel will meet Camperdown in the zone decider next Monday.
Led by goals from their deadly attacking duo of Stephen Barnett and Nicholas Nelson, Hydel High eased to a comfortable 2-0 win over many times Manning Cup champions, Kingston College (KC) at the Spanish Town Prison Oval on Tuesday.
In a must win game for both teams, to keep any hopes alive of advancing to the semi-finals, Hydel got off to the perfect start when Barnett fired home from close range with just over a minute on the clock.
The goal clearly rocked KC who took a while to get settled in the game after conceding so early.
With a strong wind blowing in the Oval, both teams struggled to get their passing game going but KC almost drew level in the 13th minute when Kemar Pedlar hit the crossbar with a well taken free kick from 22 yards.
Hydel doubled their advantage midway the half when Barnett played in Nelson down the left side and the team’s leading scorer unleashed a powerful left foot volley into the far corner of the net.
Gavain Brown tested Nicholas Clarke in the Hydel goal when he fired on target from just outside the area, but the keeper moved smartly to his left to effect a good save.
KC got two opportunities late in the half to test Clarke again, but failed to clear the wall from free kicks on both occasions.
Hydel took the 2-0 lead into the break, clearly sensing they were half way towards three crucial points.
The second half failed to spark to life as the Hydel’s midfield failed to play up to their early season standards and the KC midfield failed to put the Hydel defenders under any sustained pressure.
There were two moments for KC in the second half from which they could have scored. First, a good combination play between Rashawn Mackison, Jerome Lodge and Gavain Brown ended with the latter firing a tame shot, straight at Clarke from inside the area, with the whole goal to aim at.
With seven minutes left on the clock Lodge could have gotten one back for the Purples when he had a free header inside the box but he missed the target completely.
The final whistle ended any hopes of KC advancing while it put Hydel in a position where they now have the destiny in their own hands.
Donovan Hayles was happy his team secured the three points, “We started off extreemly well and got a goal very early and we played in patches. But the boys focus was on getting three points and it showed in the performance. One or two of them were off colour, but inspite of that we were able to get three points.
KC coach Neil Harrison was left to rue his team conceding soft goals yet again, “It is a situation that is haunting the team, against Camperdown we gave up two soft goals within ten minutes, against Hydel it was the same kind of a situation. Not taking anything away from Hydel, I don’t think they really hurt us, I think we hurt ourselves, constantly giving away soft goals. If you give teams with good touch chances they will hurt you, especially when you aren’t taking your chances.”
In the late game at the Prison Oval, Camperdown beat St. Jago 1-0 courtesy of a 74th minute striker from Andre McCatty, to continue to lead the group with maximum six points and now need only a draw against Hydel to advance to the semi-finals.
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