The Stadium East Field will be buzzing this afternoon when North Street rivals Kingston College (KC) and St George’s College (STGC) clash in their Group One quarter-final round match in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup competition. Match time is 2:00 pm.

In the second match of the double-header in the group, Mona will tackle former champions Charlie Smith at 4:15 pm.

KC, who are the defending champions, will start the match as big favorites, having defeated STGC 3-0 in their last meeting two weeks ago in the group stages of the competition. However, prior to that game, STGC had defeated KC 4-2 in their first meeting in the zone.

The Raymond Watson-coached KC will be high on confidence entering today’s game, having thrashed Jose Marti 9-0 in their second-leg tie in the second round of the competition.

On the other hand St George’s, who have been playing very well this season, secured their place in the quarter-finals after defeating Jonathan Grant 7-2 on aggregate in their two-way tie.

Marcel Gayle, assistant coach of STGC, said his players are feeling upbeat ahead of today’s showdown against their rivals from North Street. We are pretty confident, but we know that it is humdinger because it is a derby game,” said Gayle.

“We just want to settle our nerves very early and ensure that we take our chances. It is a very important game for us because this is quarterfinals and every game is like a final for us and so we are looking forward to it, they guys are in good spirits and so we are confident and we are ready to go,” he added.

Gayle said their last defeat to KC is now behind them and his team is now focused on securing a positive result against their opponents this afternoon.

“We have put that game behind us and we are ready to turn a new page now and we just want to start the quarter-finals round in a positive frame of mind,” Gayle said.

“We would have learned from the mistakes that we made in that game and so we are just looking forward to putting on a good showing on Saturday.”

The light blues will rest their hopes in the hands of their top scorer Brain Burkett, who has netted 14 goals this season to lead their charge to victory. He is expected to receive support from Joshua Jackson and Adrian Reid.

KC will be led by striker Dujuan Richards, who netted a five-timer against Jose Marti in their last game.

In fact, Richards is the joint top scorer in the competition with Mona’s Donhue Mitchell with 19 goals each.

Richards is expected to receive valuable support from Jaheem Johnson, Ashanie Kennedy and Nashordo Gibbs.

In other quarter-final round matches, Jamaica College will oppose Wolmer’s at 2:00 pm, while hosts St Andrew Technical will entertain Haile Selassie at 4:15 pm in a Group Two double-header at the Richard Ashenheim Stadium.