St Andrew Technical (STATHS) goalkeeper Diego Haughton comes to punch away a ball during a Manning Cup match earlier this season. - Ricardo Makyn

Excelsior will look to get their ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup second round campaign off to a winning start when they tackle many time champions Kingston College (KC) in one of two games scheduled for the Constant Spring playing field today.

The two heavyweights clash in the 1 p.m. opener while last year's semi-finalist St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) will square off with the hard-fighting Tivoli Gardens High in the second match at 3pm as teams begin their tussle for semi-final positions.

ambitious

STATHS have been in impressive form all season and confirmed their ambitions after coming out on top of a tough group, which consisted of teams such as Wolmer's and Camperdown and will start favourites over their west Kingston-based counterparts.

Coach Keith Nichols is satisfied with his team's response in training and is looking for a positive performance, as they look to bounce back from Walker Cup disappointment.

Said Nichols, "Everything is going alright so far, the guys are very confident and they are ready to go. I like what I have seen from them, they are right where they need to be before this game and they are all looking forward to getting over the Walker Cup disappointment."

Tivoli's Dave Clarke was less confident but believes his team's fighting spirit will prevail in the end.

not satisfied

Said Clarke, "I am not completely satisfied with the preparation going into this game we have had some issues man to man we are not the best team in this competition but I expect the guys to go out there and give a good account of themselves. What we have in this group is a bunch of determined youngsters and this will go a long way."

In the curtain raiser, Kingston College (KC) will be hard pressed to contain the explosive Excelsior, however, coach Wayne Fairclough believes his team will push the East Kingston team to the end.