Former champions Camperdown High had to reply on a fortuitous late goal to beat Mona High 1-0 yesterday in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup Group D match at Alpha Institute football field.

Nike Powell got the all-important goal when Mona goalkeeper Jahez Cleghan failed to hold onto an innocuous effort on goal in the first minute of stoppage time.

“It’s part of the game. Sometimes the luck goes against you but we will accept it [the goal]. Overall, we deserved to win the game though it was unfortunate for them how we got the goal,” Camperdown Head Coach Christopher Bender told the Jamaica Observer during a post-game interview.

“We started out well, and I think we pinned them back and we got a couple of chances. We made some bad decisions — selfishness in front of goal because when we should have passed we tried to shoot. But we’ll straighten that out and we’ll get better as the season goes along,” Bender said.

Max Straw, Mona’s technical director, lamented his team going off-script during a cagey encounter.

“Disappointed to concede like that, but my bigger disappointment was that we didn’t play how we trained to play. We seemed to get excited and tried to get a goal with almost every attack. We trained to play with a lot more patience and that’s why we didn’t score,” he said.

In other Group D games, Meadowbrook High beat St Mary’s College 3-1 and Hydel High edged Edith Dalton James High 2-1.

Holy Trinity High dismissed Clan Carthy High 8-1 in a Group A encounter.

In Group E former champions Jamaica College hit 10 unanswered goals past Greater Portmore High, while Vauxhall High blanked Innswood High 6-0.

Under mostly overcast conditions at Alpha, Camperdown had the lion’s share of possession but were hardly able to break down the Mona defence.

Mona tried to build their attacks around methodical passing, though at times hasty in their approach play and lacking the crucial final piece to create proper openings.

Late in the first half Camperdown’s Tivelle Edwards was played in nicely by Shaqueil Bradford, but the former’s shot went wide of the target when he was one-on-one with goalkeeper Cleghan.

In the second half Mona could have taken the lead but Loloxley Reid, who was first to a well-weighted corner kick, headed straight at Camperdown’s goalkeeper DeShawn White.

However, at the other end Powell got the decisive breakthrough, thanks to Cleghan’s blunder.

—Sanjay Myers