KINGSTON, Jamaica — Kingston College (KC) were not at their best when they took on the Mannings School on Wednesday as they began their defense of the ISSA/Digicel Champions Cup.

However, they were able to produce the goods to see them soar past the school from Westmoreland and advance to the semifinal round which will be played today.

Ronardo Burgher was the man again for KC as his 9th-minute goal decided the match in favour of the ‘Famed Purples’ at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS). Despite not seeing his team play at the standard that they had set before the Christmas break, head coach Ludlow Bernard considered the job done by his boys ‘good enough’.

“It was a good start, with a good result and a very well taken goal by Burgher,” he said.

Bernard thought his team kept their opponents in the game because of their failure to put away the chances they created.

“We created numerous opportunities on the counterattack because this team that we played against, they were very heavy with numbers in midfield, but we had the opportunity to really kill them off on the counter.

“We got multiple chances and didn’t capitalise on them, and, in the end, (David) Martin had to make a critical save at a critical moment in the game. Those are the lessons we have to learn and understand when we play against these kinds of teams. If you don’t get them out of the way from early, you are going to be in the game with them and you have to fight hard because it was indeed a very spirited performance from the Mannings team.”

He credited his defenders for keeping yet another clean sheet which now numbers eight from nine matches played.

“I am pretty much satisfied with our defensive organisation. That stood tall for us. Numerous times they thumped the ball into our defence directly and we withstood all of it. Next time around I think we can return to our quality game that everybody is used to.”

Bernard has promised that his team will give a better showing as the new year progresses.

“We are trying to build momentum, we haven’t played since last year and this is our first game, so we have to get back into that playing mode. We have our standard of play. This is a very flexible team, we played on the counter, with a little bit more application we could have had a little bit more success, but I am satisfied with the flexibility of the team,” he said.

“We have to implement a number of things and ensure that our on-the-day preparation is complete and thorough. It can be better than what it was on Wednesday.

KC will take on Clarendon College in a repeat of the 2019 final at the Stadium East Field today, starting at 1:00 pm.