Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

Described by Meadhaven United's coach, Alrick Clarke, as "worse than Gustav", the Digicel Premier League game between Waterhouse and Meadhaven United at the Drewsland Complex had to be aborted due to heavy and persistent rain yesterday.

The matchup, which had ingredients to be a humdinger given the fact that three Waterhouse players, midfielder Weston Forrest, central defender Roger Rodney and forward Andre Hickling, were transferred to Meadhaven before the start of the season, and that a number of the current Waterhouse players were at one stage or another coached by Clarke, was called off at about 4:30 p.m., half-hour after the scheduled start of play.

Wet field

The non-stop rain left the field in a wet and soggy state, with pools of water noticeably reaching well above ankle height.

"It's first time in a long while that I have seen the rain fallen so heavily and consistently at a football match ... it's even worse than Gustav," said Clarke, while drawing reference to the storm which lashed the island recently. "But I guess that's how it goes. It is the second day in a row that I have been involved in a washout game, as yesterday (Saturday) my team, Calabar (High), suffered the same fate," said Clarke, who coaches the school in the Manning Cup.

Looking forward to encounter

Wayne Fairclough, coach of Waterhouse, which had Irvino English and Damion 'Dutty Man' Powell, among others who were coached by Clarke when he was head coach at Norman Manley High, said he was looking forward to the encounter.

"I was looking forward to the match, my players were looking forward to the matchup and I know that the Meadhaven players were looking forward to match. But what can I say, it was an act of God."