Despite conceding almost 90 goals in nine games in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/Digicel Manning Cup this season, Gaynstead High Assistant Coach Shemoye Sweeney believes the team will learn from the mistakes and improve in the years to come.

Gaynstead, who lost all their group games so far this season, went down 0-15 away to Mona High in the Manning Cup on Wednesday.

The game, which was scheduled for 3:30 pm, kicked off after 5:00 pm as Gaynstead failed to produce a match card and had to retrieve it. The head coach of the team was also absent and the team had no substitutes on the bench.

The match was then reduced to 30 minutes a half but that didn’t stop Mona from piling on the goals under floodlights. Mona netted 15 goals inside the 60 minutes with Kshaine Gordon and Robino Gordon netting hat-tricks.

Gaynstead lost the opening fixture against group winners Mona 18-0 and Wednesday’s defeat meant they’ve let in 89 goals, the highest number conceded by a team in the urban area competition.

However, Sweeney says his team are getting better, regardless of what the scoreline says.

“We watch back our matches and do better the next games. If you look, our second matches against all the teams we have played, we have conceded less. The first time we played Mona it was 18-0. The scoreline was similar today; however, with the factors before the match I would have said we did our best based on the players and human resources we had,” he told the Observer.

In just their second year back in the competition since the start of the century, Sweeney believes there’s more to come from this team in seasons to come.

“We watch back all the matches and we would have seen where we made mistakes. In the team, even after a heavy defeat, the morale is still stable because this season is our second time in over two decades since we have been in Manning Cup, so it’s like exposure for these players so they’ll be back next season. Going forward, we’ll just keep positive.”

Mona High Head Coach Craig Butler took heart to Gaynstead’s situation and says it was a teachable moment for all those involved.

“It’s not about what you learn, it’s what you can teach. You can teach the opposing team that it’s not the score but how you play the game. You can teach the referees to continue to have love for the game. This is a game they wanted to not play because the team was late with paperwork, but the team was losing so it’s important you teach them your fighting spirit and after the game, you can also teach our players to have good camaraderie, good sportsmanship and these are the things we want to continue to do.”

— Daniel Blake