Cavalier Technical Director Rudolph Speid and Mount Pleasant Head Coach Theodore Whitmore both blamed missed opportunities for their 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Lynk Cup quarter-final fixture on Thursday.

The game, played at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex in Kingston, was an open one with numerous defensive lapses which were not capitalised on by either team.

However, second-half substitute Ronaldo Webster opened the scoring for Cavalier in the 50th minute, then Atapharoy Bygrave levelled the score, capitalising on poor set piece defending in minute 74.

Speid says the game should’ve been wrapped up after scoring their goal.

“They were really at our mercy for about 10 minutes, and we should’ve done better — it didn’t happen,” he said after the game. “Then we made a mistake off a set play at the back, we didn’t attack the ball. I think they were lucky this time.

“We should’ve been out of sight early in the second half, but we kept on missing some simple opportunities out of selfishness. Some of the balls we could’ve crossed and had better opportunities. All in all it’s a busy schedule and I know the legs are not [at the fitness levels] they should be.”

But Whitmore says that the game could have gone either way and finds the result to be a fair result of the performances.

“It was a game of two halves, come next week we play the second leg,” he said in his post-game interview. “We missed some chances, but it was an opportunity for some players, this afternoon, to get in some game time. Very pleased with some of the performances. A little match fitness issues let us down, but all in all I think it was a fair enough game.”

The first chance of the game came in the 12th minute to Cavalier’s Ronaldo Robinson, who latched onto a weak back pass in the Mount Pleasant defence, but he produced a meek effort that trickled wide.

A minute later Bygrave was gifted the ball from a poor ball out by Cavalier goalkeeper Vino Barclett, but he fired his shot high over the bar.

Mount Pleasant’s Shaquille Dyer miscontrolled a loose ball just outside the box, then teammate and Captain Ladale Richie also missed the ball on his attempt to mop up, sending Jerome McLeary through, but he crashed into Mount Pleasant goalkeeper Shaquan Davis in the resulting one on one.

Cavalier made three changes at half-time to give his players a rest as he made six changes to his starting line-up. These were right across his front line, with Collin Anderson, Dwayne “Busy” Atkinson, and Webster all coming in for Ronaldo Robinson, McLeary, and Dwayne Allen, respectively.

It took only five minutes for those substitutions to make an impact.

Atkinson played in Anderson, who faked his marker, went to his left side, then played a low ball across the box, finding Webster unmarked at the backpost to tap in for the lead.

“We knew what Cavalier have to offer and it was no surprise, especially in the second half when Anderson, Webster, and Busy were introduced,” Whitmore said.

Right back Brian Elshot played a long diagonal ball across field to Atkinson, who made his way into the box but fired his shot just wide of the far post in minute 64.

Ten minutes later, Mount Pleasant put a corner kick into the area but poor marking at the back post allowed the ball to be headed back across the goal for Bygrave to beat the keeper through a crowd of players to level the game.

The second leg will be played next week and Speid says a stronger team will be fielded there, with all to play for. Whitmore says his focus is first on their Jamaica Premier League game against Vere United on Sunday.