Western Bureau:

With 20 titles between them, Clarendon College and Rusea’s High School clash today in an ISSA/Digicel daCosta Cup round of 16 group match at Foga Road.

In their last meeting in the 2017 final, Rusea’s came from behind to clip Clarendon 2-1 but the coaches have said that they are not thinking about the past.

Clarendon’s coach, Lenworth Hyde, said they are not thinking about revenge but noted they are upbeat for what is always a big clash.

“We don’t deal with revenge, just the situation when it comes. They beat us in 2017, that is done and dusted. This is a different season with different sets of players, so we just have to let them know how serious the challenge is now. I am pretty confident because we are playing well,” Hyde said.

“This is what we prepare for, to put ourselves in the position to be in the race for the title. Rusea’s are one of the teams that we have to face and we are looking forward to the competition. We will put our best foot forward for a good result,” he added.

Clarendon come into the game in red-hot form off the back of a 12-2 aggregate win over St Mary Technical in the second round.

Dwayne Ambusley, coach of Rusea’s, said they can’t look back at history while also admitting it is always a big game between both teams.

“This is by far the most exciting game in the round based on prestige and history. Clarendon will start as favourites but we have our reputation to live up to at Rusea’s. We will do what we have to do to get a positive result,” Ambusley said.

“Clarendon College programme is way ahead of ours. I don’t want to cause any alarm by saying it’s a school playing against a club. We know it won’t be easy, so we can’t look at history. We have to play the best game that we can,” he added.

This is the first time since 2017 that Rusea’s have advanced to the round of 16 but there is a strong belief among the team’s supporters that they can get a positive result against the defending Champions Cup winners. Rusea’s have played well this season and they completed a 4-0 aggregate win over Belair High in the second round of the competition.