C’down look for improvement against Hydel

Group D headlines today’s slate of ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup matches as last year’s quarterfinalists, Camperdown High School, face reigning Walker Cup Champions Hydel High School at Caymanas field at 3:30pm.

Both teams started their seasons with wins on Tuesday, and this clash should be a tight fixture, with both teams being pegged as favourites to advance from their group.

Although Camperdown got past Mona High School 1-0 in their opener, with Nike Powell scoring the only goal of the game, head coach Christopher Bender was far from pleased with the way his team played throughout the 90 minutes, lamenting that they were unable to capitalise on the many chances they created.

“The most important thing in the game was that we got three points, [but] we didn’t play well at all, [especially] for most of the second half,” Bender said. “We started well, [but] we should have scored two or three goals during that period because we were the better team.

“We know we could play much better than what we did on Tuesday, and as the competition progresses, we will get better in terms of how the team will be organised and maybe different personnel also. We know what we can do.”

TOUGH TIME

Bender acknowledges that his team will be in for a tough ­assignment against Hydel, who will be confident after their 2-1 opening win against Edith Dalton James High School. He says that to overcome the challenge they will present, his team has to vastly improve their decision making and their composure in front of goal.

“To be successful against a Hydel team that is organised, we have to do much better in terms of how well we keep the football. We want to keep the ball better in terms of in possession. We want to make better decisions, and in terms of the last third, we want to be better in terms of decisions to score and create more opportunities,” he said.

“I think we were a little anxious on Tuesday. If we can be a little more patient with what we do in the last third of the field, I think the team [will] perform better.”

Camperdown have aspirations of repeating their quarterfinal run last year, and although Bender’s squad is still getting used to playing together for the first time, he hopes that as they are able to play frequently, as he says, it will strengthen their chances of another deep run in the competition.