Mona High School made a strong statement of intent despite going down 0-2 to Kington College (KC) in their opening game of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup competition last Saturday.

The team, which is coached by Craig Butler, took the game to KC early on and never looked overmatched or out of place for the entire 90 minutes, despite conceding two late goals that eventually cost them all three points.

Butler, who is coaching at this level for the first time, praised his players for their first-half performance where they ruffled the feathers of their more illustrious opponents.

“I think we played a better first half, good quality. It’s the first game of the season. They are all young fresh players. I think we have only one player who played before in the Manning Cup.”

He pointed to the errors made in the second half that cost his team the game but expects them to get better as the season progresses.

“They are ready to go. The performance will improve and the confidence will improve. They made very bad blunders in the second half, which could have been avoided.

“The technique, the systems that we were playing, were much better than the opponent today, but they took their chances and we didn’t take ours. That’s how football is. It’s who put the ball in the net the most, and, unfortunately, we failed to capitalise on the many chances we had in the first half.”

Butler said that the systems employed against KC were not only effective but the way he thinks Jamaica should play at the international level.

“We didn’t play a direct game, we played a transition game. We recognised and played to the strengths of what Jamaica should do, which is to play to the speed and the technique and we quickly got the ball to our wingers and strikers. We were able to take on the defenders and get the crosses in, so it would have unsettled any technically challenged team.

Unfazed by the loss to KC, Butler is predicting that his team will lift the Manning Cup at the end of the season.

“I’m confident they’ll win the Manning Cup!” he said.

Mona’s next game will be against Papine High at Jamaica College at 3:00 pm.