Despite boasting one of the best records in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup this season, St Catherine High’s Assistant Coach Donovan Lofters says his team has barely been tested.

St Catherine booked their spot in the second round on Tuesday after a comfortable 3-0 win over Papine High with striker Dwight Gentles scoring twice.

They now move to an unassailable 16 points in Zone G, joining leaders St George’s College.

St Catherine have been unbeaten all season, scoring a minimum of three goals in their five wins and have only conceded once.

However, Lofters says it’s hard to judge the team’s level due to the degree of competition.

“We haven’t been challenged so we don’t even know if we’re defending properly yet, the only challenge we’ve faced so far is St George’s and we’ll be facing them again next week, so let’s see how we stand up against them and we can assess from there,” said Lofters.

He says they will have to ramp up preparation as they move into the business end of the Manning Cup.

“What we’ll try to do is play more practice matches and see how best we can get them in better match condition and mental condition to face some better opponents. Knowing the guys, they’ll step up when the challenges get harder and they’ll be more motivated to do better. Hopefully, we can also be more focused,” Lofters said.

With one game remaining, Papine look set to finish bottom of the table on three points after six defeats from their seven matches.

However, Assistant Coach Jermaine Edwards believes they have a bright future.

“Most of these boys are young. We have a couple of 14- and 15-year-olds in the team, the youngest is 13. The only person in the team that is old is the goalkeeper, who is 18, so they just need to get their head space together, be willing to take constructive criticism and with some more additions, this group can get better.”

Tuesday’s Results

•Papine 0 St Catherine 3

•Jonathan Grant 0 Charlie Smith 0

•Norman Manley 1 St George’s 3

•St Jago 1 Tivoli 3

•Clan Carthy 0 Hydel 4

•Tarrant 4 Mona 0

Wednesday’s Games

•Excelsior vs Jamaica College at Excelsior

•Jose Marti vs Kingston College at Jose Marti

•Penwood vs Campion @ Maverley

• Camperdown vs STATHS at Alpha

•Edith Dalton James vs Wolmer’s at Edith Dalton

•Kingston Technical vs Calabar at Kingston Tech

•Pembroke Hall vs Bridgeport at Pembroke Hall

•Vauxhall vs Haile Selassie at Vauxhall

•Meadowbrook vs Cumberland at Meadowbrook

•St Mary’s College vs Denham Town at St Mary’s