DEFENDER Adrian Mariappa says his inexperienced teammates, many of whom made their national senior team debut on Tuesday, gave a good account of themselves.

The Reggae Boyz went down to Morocco 3-0 in a four-team tournament being hosted by Qatar in Vienna, Austria.

The Boyz gave a good account of themselves for the majority of the game in spite of conceding the first goal in the 33rd minute. However they further conceded others in the 74th and 80th minutes, which the technical staff said was because of a lack of fitness and conditioning. This was something Interim Head Coach Merron Gordon was wary of, heading into the game.

Mariappa, who partnered youngster Richard King in centre defence, says the result does not tell the whole story.

“Overall, we were disappointed with the result but there are positives to take out of the game,” he said. “Playing against good opposition; we’ve only recently come together; a lot of guys making debuts, first time playing with each other, so I think it’s just a learning experience, for the boyz to gain experience playing against good sides — on decent pitches as well — just trying to show what they can do and what they can bring to the table.”

While some players showed signs of nervousness early on in the game, Mariappa said that is to be expected given the situation they were in.

“It’s a learning process, and adjusting to the pace and finding out what that’s like is part of that learning process,” he said. “We soaked up a lot of pressure, especially in the first half. You have these games to find these things out, that’s the level — and the level steps up in the next game and obviously beyond that.”

Mariappa sees a bright future for King, 20, who is already familiar with international football, having played a number of games in the Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign which ended earlier this year.

“He’s handled how he’s come through extremely well,” Mariappa said. “He’s got all the ability in the world, he wants to learn, he has a great attitude, so I’ve got high hopes for him and hope that he can learn and improve at the rate he is and get the rewards that I hope he’ll earn and deserve.”

Mariappa, 35, is confident about the future of the team and says that competition for places now exists, which he considers a positive.

“There’s a lot of talent in the team but we know that competition’s extremely high, and the level’s only increasing,” he said. “You look at the likes of Leon Bailey now, in the [English] Premier League [at Aston Villa], and there’s a lot of boys that we have that are now plying their trade in the Premier League so the level’s only increasing.

“For these boys, it’s about stepping up and showing that they can warrant a place to be called up. They can only do that by having good performances now and training well. Whatever opposition is placed in front of them [the key is] just trying to learn and grow as much as they can in the short space of time they have together. I don’t see why some of these young boys can’t force their way into the squad, especially for the future.”

The Reggae Boyz now turn their attention to Qatar at 10 am tomorrow.

Mariappa sees this as a “tough game” and one the team can learn even more from.